A Different Heroine
by reluctantmuses
Summary: What happens when Edward Cullen notices a quiet and friendless girl in his English class after she has the audacity to contradict his answer to a question? An unlikely friendship springs up, that's what. A slow burn exploration of a relationship between two teens, one human, one immortal.
1. Chapter 1

Sooooooo... this is something that has been lingering in the back of my head for a while. I finally decided, 'fuck it' and ended up writing it, and actually having a lot of fun with it.

Some brief context: I have a complicated relationship with Twilight. Loved it when I was twelve, insisted on hating it when I was an edgy teenager, and revisiting it now that I'm an adult. It has its problems, of course, but I still have my nostalgia for it. Most of my problems with Twilight can be traced to Bella and how bland she is, especially with how Edward and Bella's relationship is so fast moving, with both of them deciding they're in love after such a short time. It just didn't do it for me.

Which means, here I am, unashamedly using the characters to write my own little thing. This was inspired by my anger at Edward for being a bad literary scholar when it came to Romeo and Juliet in New Moon. Romance in this story is going to be extremely slow burn, with most of it focusing on friendship to start out with.

I am also going to change the vampire lore a little bit, because wow, a lot of things don't make sense in Twilight. Mostly it has to do with physical attributes. People may be stupid, but golden eyes would kind of be a tip off to someone being not human. In my version, the vampires keep their original eye colour, but in sunlight, their eyes will be red (because really, animals don't have different blood to people that would result in golden eyes), which gives them more reason to avoid the sun than just looking like they dived in glitter.

Also I racebent some of the characters, because I can, and no one can stop me. Alice is of Chinese descent and Emmett is African-American. I think this also makes it more believable for people to just accept that the Cullen kids are dating each other. My other main problem with Twilight was just how white it was, which was kind of alienating as a girl of colour, so here I am, like 14 years later...

Ummm, enjoy?

...

The rain outside the classroom's window captivated the students much more effectively than the words of Mr. Duval. An impressive feat considering the omnipresence of both. The elderly English teacher ignored the fact that many of the students in the back seat were still recovering from their naps courtesy of the film they had just watched and continued to talk. "And… um… what would you say is the greatest tragedy of this story?" he asked, to make his droning seem like more of a discussion than a lecture. No one raised their hands despite his soft cough and the awkward silence in the air "Mr. Cullen?" he finally turned to the boy seated by the window in the front row.

Edward Cullen, already prepared, turned to Mr. Duval and smiled softly, his pianist fingers drumming as if he were contemplating the question. "I believe the greatest tragedy of this story is Heathcliff's inability to protect the woman he loves. Despite the lengths he goes to be with her, he ends up killing Catherine, punished as such by spending the rest of his life haunted by her."

"Excellent. Thank you Mr. Cullen. Now, on the imagery in the final scene…" Edward normally tuned out the babble of minds around him, but when a room full of people were remarking on the same thing, it was hard not to notice. Mr. Duval eventually caught on to the hand that was raised. "Oh, do you have a question, Miss Verma?"

"Um. I'm sorry." Edward half turned in his seat to see a tiny presence in the back of the classroom. A presence he'd never noticed before, utterly mouselike. "But isn't the 'greatest tragedy' in this book the way that Heathcliff and Catherine hurt everyone around them?"

Everyone in the class only gave the girl blank stares. She pushed up her thick glasses, and continued frantically. "I mean, in the movie, Hareton, Cathy, and Linton don't really exist, but in the book, Heathcliff tortures them. And what about Isabella? Heathcliff is a really bad husband to her, even though she gives up everything to be with him. Catherine's not really better with how she treats Edgar…" she trailed off and looked to the ground. What remained unsaid rattled Edward. _Heathcliff and Catherine aren't the victims, they're the villains. Why are we acting like they're the only ones in the world?_

Mike Newton was the first to snicker. A few other voices joined him. All thought of the weird girl who never spoke freaking out over a dumb book. Edward realised that most of them didn't even know of the characters she spoke of, only basing their knowledge of Bronte's novel on the 1939 film they'd just watched that specifically excluded them. Perhaps they weren't there because Miss Verma's point was quite damning to the tragic love story that most people, including Edward, liked to focus on.

The girl didn't realise this and shrunk further in her seat, her head beginning to fill with anxiety-ridden thoughts and regrets for having spoken up. "Er… interesting point, Miss Verma." Mr. Duval said over the giggles. "Now, on the imagery of storms..."

Edward directed his gaze to the front, but he was listening intently to the girl's mind, his curiosity piqued. This girl, Verma, was in his grade, but he had never noticed her until now, her mind not standing out to him at all. He could see why. Immediately after the attention faded from her, she blanked out, focusing intensely on the teacher's words, as if trying to shove the negative thoughts in her mind to the back.

When the bell rang, the other students seemed to have forgotten about her. She certainly did a good job of blending into the wall, grabbing her things and leaving class. Edward watched her go with a frown. He knew he should have put it out of his mind, but he couldn't help but follow her to where he'd heard her decide to go. Of course, he didn't go into the girls' bathroom, but he lingered outside where he could hear her have the panic attack she'd been suppressing in class.

Now, this wasn't the first time Edward had encountered a person with anxiety. Being a mind reader exposed him to all sorts. But he felt responsible for this particular case. Even though he knew it was a minor thing to get upset over, he saw that the girl thought she had just made a fool of herself. He didn't want her to stifle the intelligence he saw in her response because of an inept teacher and cruel classmates.

That was why, the next day, he managed to convince himself to approach the lone girl sitting in the corner of the cafeteria, despite the curious thoughts from everyone, including his siblings, and seat himself across from her. She looked up from the food and books strewn beside her with big dark eyes. Up close and isolated, she smelled warm and honey-sweet. The only thing he could liken her to was the scent of a rich mead or sweet wine. It was a good thing he had hunted recently.

He heard the confusion of thoughts in her mind: thoughts of it being a cruel joke, recognition of his attractiveness, and reminders of the other day in class, before she settled on plain confusion again.

He smiled, hoping to put her at ease. That only made her more uncomfortable, and he heard her contemplate fleeing. "I was thinking a lot about the point you made in class yesterday." she froze at that. "About the way Heathcliff and Catherine treat people."

"Oh… sorry. I didn't mean to… um… take away from your interpretation." she said quietly.

But Edward could read her mind. He saw that she thought of his idea as shallow, which was what drew her ire enough to refute his point. "My interpretation is an outdated one." he confessed. "I took Heathcliff's perspective for granted, and didn't challenge him. So I wanted to thank you."

When she realised he hadn't sat down to ridicule her, she brightened considerably, smiling to reveal braces. He felt a jolt of relief to see her cheer up after how down she had seemed. "My name is Edward." he introduced himself, outstretching his hand.

"I knew that." she blushed. "I mean, I know everyone's name. In my classes at least." she took his hand and shook it quickly. She was surprised by the cold, but she didn't show it on her face. When she saw that he was looking at her expectantly, she said. "I'm Alia."

"Alia." he repeated. He finally had a name. All her classmates had simply referred to her as a loser, or Verma. "What are you reading?"

That was the right question to ask, though he knew from her thoughts, she was eager to show him the cover of Anne, the lesser known Bronte's book, Agnes Grey. "Wuthering Heights made me want to read everything from the Brontes." she confessed. "I think this is my favourite so far."

"I haven't read it yet." Edward confessed. "Would you lend it to me once you're finished?"

_Oh. That's what friends do. But he couldn't want to be my friend, could he?_ "Um, sure." the shyness seemed to overtake her once more as she looked to her food. Edward felt as if he had lost all the progress he had made in reaching out to this lonely, friendless girl.

"What did you think of Jane Eyre?" he asked in a last ditch effort to reach her again.

"If Heathcliff's bad, Rochester is the worst." Some of the fire was back.

"What did Rochester do?" he asked, surprised despite himself. He was one of the more admirable Victorian romantic leads, certainly not as tortured as Heathcliff.

"He locked his wife up in his attic." Alia said incredulously.

"Fair." Edward admitted with a grin.

"Um… how'd you know I'd already finished Jane Eyre?" she asked.

Edward only took a split second before responding. "If you're on Anne's work, you must have already finished Charlotte's."

She accepted that. It was easy to draw her into conversation about those books. Though her views were unconventional, Edward enjoyed them. They were so different from how he'd read those novels. He saw quickly that Alia had a critical mind when it came to literature, one that was severely underestimated when it came to Forks High School. Obviously, he was on her level as he had completed his education several times, but she was only a ninth grader. She could have been in an advanced program if she wasn't in such a small town.

Those topics could wait until another day, when she was more comfortable. He surprised himself with that thought. Was he going to talk to her another day? When the bell rang, and Alia shyly waved goodbye to head to biology, Edward was joined by a bouncing Alice. _Tell me all about her!_

"I think I made a friend." Edward said, surprising even himself.


	2. Chapter 2

Ah! Thank so much for the kind comments. Everyone has been so nice that I felt inspired to write the next chapter in one sitting basically, haha. Here it is. Please enjoy. 3

...

Things had progressed rather quickly with Edward and his new human friend.

Rosalie had given Edward an earful for endangering the family. But once he'd made his case to his parents, Carlisle and Esme had jumped onto the idea of Edward making a friend. Carlisle immediately made the connection of her parents, both doctors that worked in the hospital. He heard their thoughts and almost felt like yelling for how happy they were for his normally solitary self to make a friend.

He sat with her during lunch for the rest of the week to the continued scandal of the school and took home Agnes Grey, bringing her a copy of Northanger Abbey in exchange. He personally was a huge fan of Austen, and hoped to share it. He was delighted when she returned the next day, demanding Sense and Sensibility.

Seats were assigned during their shared English class, but he noticed that she spoke up occasionally, instead of not at all, which was certainly an improvement, though she was still quiet and reluctant to take a risk.

"It's not like that." he had to correct several of his family members on their assumptions of him finally finding a mate. "I just… I don't know. She needs a friend."

_So do you_. Esme thought, clutching her hands together, her joy barely contained. She was already making plans for having Alia over and Edward could only sigh. _She's Indian right? I've never made Indian food, but I think I can do well. _

"I'm sure you can, but it's too soon for that. You'll scare her off."

On the note of scaring her off, Edward had to do his best to restrain Alice, who wanted to join them at every turn and smother poor Alia. Though it was a relief to see from Alice's visions that nothing horrible came from his decision, he didn't need her looking into every possibility. Even Alice had the wisdom to see that her interference would frighten Alia away, thankfully leading her to reluctantly restrain herself. _Only for now._ She promised.

Alia herself was the most surprised by this development. She had never really had any friends except in kindergarten. She was always a loner, though not by choice. So when she thought she had just humiliated herself in front of the entire class, she was stupefied by the fact that Edward Cullen of all people wanted to be her friend.

Her sister Avantika had confronted her about Edward the first day he'd sat with her as soon as she got home. Avantika was a senior and really popular. She demanded to know how her loser sister had managed to get close to one of the elusive and beautiful Cullens when so many better than her had already tried and failed.

Alia was stumped, and her sister finally dropped the topic at their parents' insistence. She wasn't so lucky at school when several popular girls in her grade cornered her and insisted on details. They weren't mean, but the attention made Alia really uncomfortable. Seeing as Alia really didn't have any ulterior motives or was making herself known, they eventually dropped the case, though she would never stop getting curious looks.

She convinced herself for the first two weeks that the boy was only hanging around her out of boredom or even worse as a prank. But he stuck around, and she had no choice but to open her walls to him. She was so desperate for a friend that she wasn't about to pass up the chance, even though it was the most gorgeous boy in her grade who had reached out to her.

One of the benefits of being ugly, she decided, was that she never needed to worry about the intentions of guys around her. And she liked it like that. Edward was the first person she could talk to about books and music. The only other teenager she had ever met that actually enjoyed the classics. Though they shared more similarities in the first area, she was eager to consume any new media. She wished she could eventually work up the courage to recommend her favourite cartoons or games to him but held herself back because they were childish and Edward seemed to appreciate more sophisticated things.

To her shock, Edward mentioned the names of her favourite cartoons in passing. She couldn't help but enthuse about it, to his satisfaction. She accepted the unlikely happening of Edward liking the same silly things she did and overcame the rest of her reservations, opening up about all her favourite cartoons and eventually games. She usually only played the Nintendo games leftover from when her older brothers had lived at home (there wasn't a huge market in Forks), but knew them inside out.

With that, she felt compelled to invite Edward to hang out at her house to try out said games, heart beating with fear the entire time. He only had to laugh and sneer at her before everything that had been building for the past few months to collapse.

Edward only smiled warmly. "I'd like that."

Alia could only grin like an idiot before she realised what she was doing, and stopped, horrified at her weirdness. He probably thought she was going to lure him over to murder him or something. But Edward only continued to smile, though she could have sworn the corner of his mouth twitched in amusement.

She normally walked home, liking the briskness and cold air of Forks. "Sorry. It's a little far, but there are no uphills or anything."

"You don't need to keep apologizing, Alia." Edward replied. Alia only wanted to apologize again, but Edward held up a pale finger and she stopped, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. It was an instinct, hard to break out of.

Well, he was keeping pace effortlessly. She didn't know why she was surprised. Clearly, he worked out. She'd never seen a fifteen year old so toned, but then she remembered his older brothers. Did Dr. Cullen put them on steroids or something? Ugh. There was no need for her to make such assumptions. They'd just moved to Forks at the start of this school year. They could have just been held back a year or two.

She turned her attention to Edward, who was only looking at her curiously. She shook her head free of those troubling intrusive thoughts and focused on talking to Edward. That made the 30 minute walk end much faster than it normally did. Edward inquired as to why she didn't get her parents to pick her up from school, like most other kids did and Alia could only shrug. "I like walking." Plus, her parents always made her wait like 15 minutes. Though it really wasn't much, she was really impatient and would much rather walk as the time evened itself out.

"It can be dangerous walking on your own everyday." Edward noted. "Can't you walk with your sister?"

Alia snorted. Avantika would rather grow wings and fly than walk home, especially with her. "Not her thing."

He dropped it, though his frown lingered. By that time, they had passed the hedge and were faced with her house. It was pretty well hidden until one crossed. She fished the key from her backpack and opened up, shaking her braid free from her coat.

At first, after offering Edward a snack being refused, Alia grabbed one for herself and they did their English homework at the dining table. It kinda pissed Alia off, kinda amused her to see Edward rattling off the answers without even consulting notes. Did he have a photographic memory or something? Still, it wasn't as if Duval challenged them in any way. One didn't even technically need to read the books as all the worksheets and tests were based off of what he said in class.

"Alright! I promised you games." she declared, once the work was done. She indicated to the stairs and they went to her bedroom, where she plopped down in front of the small T.V. "My brother's." She blushed at the low whistle. "So are the games. How does Mario Kart sound?" when Edward nodded, she could only grin. "Fair warning. I'm undefeated." Of course she was. She'd never gone up against another person before.

"I'm a fast learner." Edward promised.

And he was. Alia barely won the first match, Edward having picked up the controls easily and keeping up with her Toad with his own Dry Bones. And then he proceeded to beat her three times. "You've played this before!" she accused, tossing the controller down.

Edward had the nerve to look _graceful _holding his controller. "I have not."

"Let's go again." she laughed, not believing him. They played some more. Edward didn't engage in trash talk like her, but his method of coolly remarking on her mistakes was way more effective in riling her up. Despite losing, Alia was enjoying herself. It was nice to have someone to play with for once.

As if knowing her thoughts, Edward asked. "Do you play with your siblings?"

Alia shook her head. "My brothers didn't let me touch their games while they were still around. They both left by the time I was like… nine. My sister's not into them at all."

"You and your sister are quite different, then?"

"Yeah, she's the typical older sister, I guess. You seem pretty close to your siblings."

Edward smiled. "We're not perfect, but yes. We are a very close family." The smile fell a bit. "Sometimes it feels like we're too close. As if there's no space to breathe without questions from ten different directions."

"I can't imagine." she confessed. Her family was pretty distant. She loved everyone, true, but it was all but given that she'd leave as soon as she turned eighteen as was the precedent set by her siblings. "I guess there are always two sides to things."

"That's an optimistic way to put it."

The games were put aside as the conversation continued about their respective families. Alia even stopped worrying about the fact that she had a boy in her room. It felt natural, which was nice.

She told him about Neil and Sal, the former off doing tech stuff in California and the latter in England. Her brothers were supposed to stop by every Christmas and Thanksgiving, but were making more and more excuses as of late. She didn't blame them. It wasn't as if her parents attempted to keep them here with their stubborn insistence in staying in Forks. Avantika was already making plans to run away as soon as she graduated. She didn't need to be so dramatic, but her sister always had a flair for it. Her parents cared more for the hospital than their children, but that was okay. It was better than forced attention.

Edward in turn told her of his sisters: Rosalie who could be snobbish and vain, but also fiercely protective, and the cheerful Alice, who was apparently really excited to meet Alia. He spoke fondly of Emmett, who was kind and loyal, and Jasper, who was the most recently adopted, but very empathetic and shy.

"You'd probably like Jasper the most." Edward laughed. "He's good at putting people at ease."

"They all sound nice." Alia smiled. They did. More than that, what sounded the nicest was how much he loved them all from the way he talked about them. Edward had seemed so cool and solitary compared to his siblings, but it was clear that he adored them.

Her bladder was being demanding, so Alia left for the bathroom after letting Edward know, once more asking if he wanted anything (which he refused). When she came back, she saw he was looking at the books on her shelf. She froze to see the unopened pink book in his hand, before darting forward and grabbing it. "Uh— I— that's my diary." Thank God he hadn't opened it. She couldn't bear the thought of her innermost ideas being read by someone else.

"I'm sorry." Edward said.

"No harm done." Alia placed it on top of her shelf, the panic dissapaiting from her. "Oh, I have that book of poetry you lent me."

By the time Edward set out, it was near dusk. Her mom had come home by then, and briefly greeted them before disappearing for a shower. Edward was surprisingly old timey, shaking her hand and introducing himself. He didn't need to do that much. Her parents constantly gushed about Dr. Cullen and probably already adored anyone associated.

When she watched him leave, bronze hair rustled by the wind, Alia felt sure of herself and their future for the first time.

This was a friendship she could see surviving into the future.


	3. Chapter 3

You have all been so amazing, I teared up reading all the kind reviews. T_T

For those of you worried about about me going easy on Edward, don't worry. We will address all of his issues of control and overprotectiveness.

This chapter is a bit shorter but I'm already working on the next one. The reason for this one's length is that I had to separate ideas that were too short for individual chapters, and I kind of combined them here.

Love you all. Review if you liked it!

...

The school year passed, and Edward learned something new about Alia everyday.

The most fascinating thing about Alia was the stories that constantly occupied her mind. She was an aspiring writer, who spent much of her time daydreaming. Her imagination only seemed to change each day. He thought that he would run out of things to notice about her, but she proved him wrong. With every piece of media she consumed, her mind seemed to evolve. It was one of the beautiful things about humans, that they constantly went through change.

Even his family stopped giving him slack about the ludicrous idea of him sticking with Alia out of a desire for a mate once they met her. Alia had been terrified at the prospect even at the months of being comfortable with Edward, but agreed to come over to his house for the first time. He wanted to show her that he wanted her in his life in contrast to the doubts that constantly rose in her mind.

She dressed in a nice blouse and jeans, and was a nervous mess, until Jasper drove them to the house, where he was effectively able to calm her with his gift, to where she was able to face his family with few doubts. Though Rosalie was cold and distant, everyone else was welcoming. Carlisle inquired after her parents, and Esme had prepared a feast of Indian food (hiding the fact that she had recently purchased a crate full of Indian cook books). Emmett and Alice were the ones that he was most worried about, but they managed to curb their enthusiasm (though Alice did hug her tightly).

Alia's reaction was exactly what he had expected. She was intimidated by Rosalie, though she made an interesting comparison to Aphrodite, no doubt from all the mythology she had been reading of late, that made him laugh. Ros would have loved that stroke to her ego if Alia was brave enough to say it.

She immediately took to Jasper, who was a bit bemused at Edward's choice of friend but kind enough to temper her wild emotions with his gift. Alia was amazed at how someone who seemed so intimidating to look at could make her feel so comfortable. Jasper and Alice sometimes sat with them at lunch, where Alia could adjust to Alice's loud personality.

Carlisle was glad of how kind Alia was and Esme was so overjoyed to cook for someone, that she all but wanted Alia to move in if not come over everyday. His parents still exasperated him, but Edward accepted their joy. For once in a long time, he felt like a normal teenager, talking about books and movies and other students. With her, he could almost feel like he was normal.

Edward and Alia both fell into a comfortable pattern of rotating whose house they would hang out at. Alia noticed that Edward didn't seem to eat anything, or his family when Esme made food for her, but was too polite as usual to ask until one day, she got annoyed when he was over.

"Edward, do you ever eat?" she asked after the third inquiry over what he'd like to have. "You never have lunch, and you don't eat for hours afterward. What's up with you?"

He groaned at the inevitability of her noticing it. "I'm not starving myself, I promise."

"Then?"

He hated the excuse he was about to make, but couldn't think of anything else after brainstorming with Carlisle. "I have a lot of allergies and health issues." Edward said. Alia's eyes widened. "Esme makes special breakfasts for me, and for the rest of the day, I'm usually on fluids. A liquid diet is easier for my body to handle." Well, that wasn't exactly a lie.

"God, Edward I'm so sorry." Alia was on the verge of tears. "What are you allergic to?"

"Hey, it's alright." Edward said gently. "No one ever suspects it. Well, let's see. Nuts, gluten, rice, soy, dairy, caffeine, eggs, fruit, and certain leafy greens. And I'm a vegetarian, so meat's out of the question too."

Alia only stared at him, the thought of tears gone from her. "What _can_ you eat?"

He grinned. "Lots and lots of vitamins and meal replacements. Helps to have a doctor for a father."

She thought of how it made sense for him to have some flaws, but still puzzled over how he seemed so healthy. He was grateful that the excuse worked and that she didn't connect his absence of eating with his siblings, who also didn't visibly eat. It wasn't impossible for their kind to eat human food, but it was the equivalent of eating dirt.

Over the next few days, he had to subtly convince her not to try and cook or buy food that got past his 'allergies'. She still called Esme behind his back and asked for tips, to which his delighted mother thanked her but also successfully convinced her otherwise.

Rosalie had been convinced that she'd find out with this, but she had been proven wrong. It was equal parts bemusing and frustrating how Alia took him at face value, trusting the excuses that might give away his abnormality.

He didn't want her to find out. If Alice ever saw her doing so, they'd have to move again and he'd lose the friendship he was beginning to treasure.

They were safe as long as they were friends. Human friends.


	4. Chapter 4

Yay, I got another chapter written!

Thank you so much for the support and kind reviews. I'm so happy you guys like Alia. She's such a sweet character for me to write. I actually wasn't super happy with the last chapter for pacing reasons, but this one, I like a lot. So I hope ya'll do too. I'm going to start writing the next one tomorrow, (I hope).

Enjoy!

...

Alia was humming to herself as she swung her legs from the branch of the tree she was situated on. Even if her creativity was coming up blank and not filling the page she had open on her lap, the green around her put her at such ease that she hardly minded. The summer air was warm even if there was no sun to accompany it.

It was embarrassing, but as of late, she was obsessed with writing stories based off of Greek mythology. She didn't get very far with words on the page, but her mind was preoccupied with versions of those myths applicable in modern days. She had a few comedic pages of Hera as a marriage counselor, that she kept putting off, but that was it.

But it was Persephone that fascinated her the most, an idea so sacred she wouldn't dare attempt to write it until she was actually a good writer. Something about the tale, and how Persephone was denied a narrative made her empathise with the goddess.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she noticed someone was standing by the tree she was situated on. "Hey Edward!" She perked up, not expecting him. "I thought you were camping with your family?"

Edward had his arms crossed over his sweater. "I just got back. Why are you in the woods by yourself?"

Alia smiled and put her book to the side. "I always come here. It helps me think."

Edward only stared at her incredulously. "What do you— you frequently come here?"

Her smile fell at how upset he seemed. "Well not specifically _here_. I like exploring the forest. There's so much to see and I might as well take advantage of the only good thing about Forks."

"How did I not know about this?"

"I never mentioned it." Alia shrugged. "Why are you mad?"

Edward inhaled sharply. "I'm not mad. I— There are bear attacks around here, Alia. It's really irresponsible to wander about as if these woods were a park."

"I've never met a bear." Alia joked. If she did, she'd probably hug it. They were pretty cute. Besides, she could always play dead, or make herself big. She forgot which one was effective.

Edward threw his hands in the air. "You're insane."

How was this a dealbreaker? "You're kind of being a jerk." Alia blurted out. "I can do what I want. It's not like I'm on drugs or anything." She needed the freedom of these woods. There wasn't anywhere else for her to escape.

Edward froze for some reason. He was disturbingly still before he moved toward her and climbed up on the branch beside her easily. "I'm sorry."

"No, I mean that was kind of rude of me. I'm—"

"Don't you dare apologize." Edward warned her. To her relief, he looked more at ease than before. "It was rude of me to tell you what to do. You're your own person."

Well, obviously. She shook her head. She didn't want to be fighting with him on such a beautiful day. "How was camping?"

He seemed to relax slightly as he told her about the family camping trip. It was a shock to her that all the Cullens were willing to trek out to the woods. Her family would never get along well enough to do that. At first she thought Rosalie was like her sister, but the more she was around her, the more complex Rosalie proved to be. Alia was still terrified to talk to her though.

While Alia relaxed in his company, Edward's head was circulating with plans. She had for who knows how long, been utterly careless in traversing the woods all by herself. Of course, the wolves usually minded their own territory, but one could never be too careful.

He would have to watch her. For her own safety, of course.

It was just his luck that thoughts travelled a mile per hour through his friend's head. She was completely spontaneous and didn't plan out her excursions to the woods. But whenever things were too loud for her and triggered her anxiety, he could usually track her scent to the forest.

The first few times he watched her, nothing happened despite his alertness. Despite his good intentions, he couldn't help the guilt that rose in him as he listened to her singing to herself, something she was only doing because she was secure in her privacy.

One day, when he was perched a distance away out of her sight, close enough to react, he heard Alice in the distance. He looked to her as she landed in front of him. "What is it, Alice?"

His sister gave him a reproachful look. "Don't you think this is too much?"

"It's for her own good." Edward said defensively. "It's not safe for her out here."

"It's not safe for humans anywhere." He stiffened. "You're only breaking her trust this way."

At that Alice revealed to him the vision she was concealing in her mind. It was Alia. She stumbled and fell out of the tree, and he was there in an instant to catch her before she hit the ground without thinking. The fall wouldn't have hurt her, but in his vigilance, he just moved. She looked to him in confusion before realising… not that there was anything unnatural about him, but that he had been _watching_ her. She recoiled in betrayal and shame and ran off leaving him reaching a hand out in her direction.

Alice crossed her arms as Edward stared at the ground in silence. "I think she'd eventually forgive you. But…"

"She'd never trust me again." he said sullenly.

Alice sighed. _I always forget that you're a kid at heart._ Edward glowered at that and she smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, but it's true. It's your choice. Now that I've warned you, you can avoid that vision and not get caught."

"You make it sound like I'm stalking her."

_Well_. "She needs privacy Edward. It's bad enough that you're already in her head."

"It's not like I can help that!" he hissed, mindful still of his volume.

"I know, I know. But you _can _help this."

Edward frowned as he looked to Alia, swinging her legs on the tree and basking in the forest atmosphere. He hated when Alice was right.

Just then, Alice had another vision that they both read at the same time. It was him and Alia, sitting in the same spot in the woods on a picnic blanket. She looked about a year or two older with shorter hair and was talking in an animated way about something while he smiled fondly down at her.

"Come on, Edward." Alice was grinning smugly. "It looks like you made your choice."

He sighed in resignation and followed Alice.

"Hey Edward!" A week later, he had rushed out to greet Alia who was outside his house with a bundle of mismatched wild roses and twigs in her long hair. "Before you ask, I rode my bike here. I picked these for Esme. Is she home?"

Edward could only sigh in exasperation and let her in. While he wouldn't risk her life over it, he found the thought of losing her trust would be far too unbearable.

He _really_ hated it when Alice was right.


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry if this is too lit majorey of me, but I had fun. :3

...

"I don't care how many times you've read it, you're wrong!"

"Stop being stubborn just this once. I know what I'm talking about."

"And I don't? Really?"

"You're refusing to see the point."

"Nuh uh! _You're_ refusing to see the point."

"Truly? What a comeback."

Alice stopped in front of the bickering pair at their normal lunch table and put her hands behind her back. "And just what are you two arguing about?"

Emmett had joined her side upon hearing the passive aggressive voices, towering over her. "The dream team's arguing? Really?"

Alia blushed at the attention and scowled down at her sandwich while Edward crossed his arms. "We are not arguing." he said coolly.

"We are too arguing." Alia argued.

Edward scoffed and Emmett chuckled. "I gotta know. C'mon."

"Romeo and Juliet." Alia muttered quietly enough that only vampires would be able to hear. Luckily for her, the three surrounding her happened to be of undead nature.

Alice giggled. "Really?"

Emmett was nowhere near as demure as he let out a bear laugh. He clapped a flustered Alia on the shoulder. "Ladies are always right, Edward."

"Not in this case."

"Hmph." Alia slammed shut her textbook and moved to get up, but Edward quickly snatched her book from her hands.

"Don't act childish Alia." He snapped. "Finish your lunch."

Emmett and Alice both winced visibly as Alia reddened further and stalked off, abandoning her textbook with Edward. "That was a little too far, Edward." Alice said gingerly.

Edward seemed to realise this as he looked after her with regret in his dark eyes. He sighed and got up swiftly with bag and book in hand. Alice and Emmett watched as he began to walk after her.

"Wait, they're seriously arguing about Shakespeare?" Emmett blinked in confusion.

They were indeed. Normally Edward like hearing Alia's point of view when it came to literature, but this particular opinion grated on his nerves. He couldn't even agree to disagree this time. Still, it was no reason for him to have talked to her so. Nor was the fact that he hadn't hunted in a few weeks and was growing all the more irritable.

He reached her where she was standing, shoulders stiff by her locker. He coughed to let her know he was there and she pointedly ignored him. "Do you want this back?" he asked softly.

Wordlessly, she took the book, looking anywhere but at him. She was hurt, that was clear. He didn't even have to read her thoughts to know. "Alia…"

"What?" she said, voice still carrying the anger he felt in her thoughts.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have talked to you like that."

Alia sighed and finally looked at him. "I was being a bitch too." Edward mentally recoiled, still not used to her new habit of swearing. He hoped she'd grow out of it but knew human adolescents only got more crass as they grew. It was still a shock to hear such words in her sweet voice.

"What can we do to make it better?" Edward asked.

Edward smiled before she even said it. "Get Duval to settle it for us?"

He laughed when the words were out. "I won't bear witness to you murdering him."

"Like you wouldn't do it first." Alia grinned. Hm, she was more right than she knew.

But with that, their spat was resolved for the day as they went to science class. It was the next day during their homework session at the Cullens' that it came up again, arguably in a more civil manner.

"In the time he was writing, he wouldn't have thought of it like that." Edward said as calmly as possible.

"Shakespeare's dead, Edward. He doesn't get a say."

"The _author_ doesn't get a say?"

"Okay fine, he gets a say. Anyway," she waved off his triumphant smirk, "I don't think you're giving him enough credit. The story becomes so much smarter this way and actually means something!"

"I'm sorry the most well known love story of all time doesn't mean anything on its own." Edward shook his head.

"You know what I mean."

"May I know what you mean?"

Edward had heard Esme coming into the room all the way from the bottom floor with a tray of food as an excuse. He could hear everyone around them subtly listening in from around the house, even Carlisle in his study. Edward had refused to tell them what the argument was about when prodded, not really wanting to give Alia the chance of being right. But here was his mother, taking things into her own hands. _Really dear, this has gone on long enough_.

Edward muttered something that only Esme had a chance of hearing, but she was undeterred.

Alia looked shyly at Esme. "It's not that important."

"I'd say it is." Esme put down a tray of snacks: perfectly sliced veggies and hummus. "Edward has been pouting for two days."

Alia giggled and Edward gave both her and Esme a sour look. "A difference in interpretation." he said in ways of explanation.

"An irreconcilable difference?" Esme prodded. Carlisle paused in his study with the book he was pretending to read.

"Kind of." Alia said.

_Oh come on, just tell us!_ Alice thought impatiently from outside the room.

"Romeo and Juliet is primarily about love. Love between the titular characters." Edward said finally, getting annoyed. "Shakespeare is writing about love and the tragedy that can destroy it."

Alia rolled her eyes. "Finish your thoughts, Edward."

If he could blush, he was sure he would have. Still, he raised his chin indignantly. "Romeo is the one that destroys that love through his carelessness and foolish behaviour. It's his fault Juliet dies."

"Because Juliet has no agency, of course."

"That's not what I said."

"_Edward_. Let Alia finish."

"Thank you, Esme." Alia smiled, revealing dimples, making Esme coo in her head. "I think the love story is too shallow to be Shakespeare's main point. What's more important are the family bonds. Romeo and Juliet are children who are like torn apart by a cruel world. They're not in love, really. They don't know any better. The love story is just a way to comment on the violence done by their families. If we're going to talk about fault, Romeo and Juliet are both equally innocent. "

"And there you have it." Edward snapped, listening to the minds around him race.

"You know what I think?" Alia leaned forward, dark brown eyes glittering.

"I have no idea." Edward said sarcastically. "Please, enlighten me."

"I think you have some weird need to relate to Romeo and that's clouding your judgement." He stiffened and she continued. "That's why it has to be all about how terrible Romeo is and about how he destroys everything."

"She's got a point, son." Carlisle muttered apologetically, heard by all but Alia. Even Rosalie let out a low whistle.

"So you're going to psychoanalyse _me_ now?" Edward said coldly, not just to her.

"No!" Her eyes widened and she shook her head, some of that anxiety back. Her mind was beginning to suspect that she had offended him for good. "No. I just— I mean— I get the sense this story is important to you from the way you talk about it and that's why you hate my opinion so much."

From behind Alia, Esme was giving him a look that would have been clear enough even without her thoughts.

"If we can't agree…" he said slowly. "Then let's just accept our differences and move on."

That wasn't satisfying to her, nor was it for him, but there was no other alternative, so she nodded. He knew she'd move on from the topic eventually as soon as their essays on the play were sent in.

But she was right in ways she couldn't understand, so he couldn't move on. The play was important to him as was Romeo, a foolish boy who destroyed everything in his path and hurt those that mattered most. He did see himself in Romeo. He despised Romeo, which made the tragedy of poor Juliet all the worse.

If he were crueler, he would have responded to her observation about him and Romeo with her own fixations on certain characters in literature such as Jane Eyre, Agnes Grey, and Lucy Snowe: soft, reflective heroines that navigated the world othered and alone. But he didn't want to intentionally hurt her.

_Your Juliet's coming_. Alice grinned the next week as Alia approached the Cullen house in an oversized raincoat.

"Not Juliet." Edward ignored the teasing that had only been building since the true nature of their disagreement was revealed and stared at the small figure through the window ponderingly. He smiled sadly.

"She's my Mercutio."


	6. Chapter 6

Heyo! This chapter came after I fell into a writing frenzy last night, making me write it all in one sitting. It's my longest yet! I really hope this wave of inspiration lasts, and am trying to milk it for all its worth.

Also, once again, thank you so much for the kind reviews. They turn me into a smiling, giggling mess, so thank you!

...

Edward stopped breathing as Alia entered the empty chemistry classroom and sat next to him with a warm smile. She was starting to smile with her teeth more now that she had gotten her braces removed. "You've been biting your nails again."

Alia immediately moved her hands into her lap, under the desk and out of Edward's sight. "No I haven't!" she lied, obvious even if he weren't a mind reader.

"Then show me." he leaned toward her.

She bit her lip and pulled out her hands as if she hadn't been hiding them. Edward took one in his hand, which she started at. If it were just biting her nails, he wouldn't have commented, but Alia tore at them with her teeth until they were bloody stumps. "I was climbing a tree and uh held on too hard?"

He gave her a withering look at that before turning his attention to her small, delicate looking hands. He felt the urge to put those fingers to his lips and taste that rich, heady scent, but put them down with a swallow. "I think you need to see a doctor."

_For what? Being stupid disease? _Her eyes hardened. "I'm fine."

"You're clearly not." Edward said calmly.

"It— it's not too bad, Edward. It's kind of just the way I am." she laughed nervously. "I feel totally fine right now, I promise."

That wasn't a lie. Bringing it up had triggered some of her anxiety, but her mood wasn't as chaotic as he'd seen during her panic attacks. But other students were beginning to pile into class, so he let it go.

Three days later, when they were at Alia's house, Edward presented her with two small containers of nail polish he had Alice acquire.

"You want me to paint your nails?" Alia tilted her head upon being presented with the vials.

"It's for you."

"Thanks but no thanks." Alia wrinkled her nose. "I'm terrible at painting my nails." She thought of a memory where she was ten years old and spilled some of her sister's polish all over her hand and the carpet. She and Edward both winced internally at the shouting Alia was subject to for that.

"Then let me paint your nails." Edward smiled at her. "Please?"

Alia frowned, and considered whether it was a joke. She was convinced by the sincerity on Edward's face however, and motioned for him to come to the bathroom. She sat down on the bathroom counter and shyly presented the stubs that were left of her nails. She hadn't bitten them since class, so the blood from Friday was absent. They had grown out enough to almost be at normal length, save for the frayed edges.

She hadn't noticed, but Edward had brought a whole cache of manicure supplies. Standing in front of her, he carefully filed down what was left of her nails into clean even shapes, vigilantly watching to see if he was causing her any pain.

"That's a pretty colour." Alia remarked upon him pulling out the dark green polish and painting her thumb nail. Of course it was. He had chosen her favourite colour after all. He had to resist the urge to hold his breath when presented with the horrible stench of the polish, of alcohol and other harsh chemicals. He had no idea why Rosalie and Alice chose to paint their nails willingly.

Alia was half-surprised that he painted her nails perfectly, without a single out-of-place stroke. He had demonstrated himself as perfectly dexterous, so why would this be any different? When he was done, she held up her hands to the light and inspected them. _It's nice of him, but it's not like it's gonna last. _Already the image of perfection was frustrating her.

"I'm not done." Edward smiled, motioning for her to hand her hands back. Curiously, she did so and he pulled out another vial of clear polish.

_A top coat? _Alia was puzzled but didn't remark as he added that layer, which had a bitter scent to his nose. When he'd screwed the cap back on, he helped her off the counter with a lazy smile. "Now let that dry and you should be fine."

"Thanks and all, but what's this for?"

"You'll find out."

Though she burned with questions, Edward chose to maintain the mystery that was growing increasingly frustrating to her. It was the next day in class, when Alia stormed up to him, expression incredulous. "It tastes bad!"

"What does?" he said innocently. She held up her nails, still immaculate, and Edward smirked. "Nail polish? Well, yes, I'd assume it would taste bad."

"You're such a little shit." Alia grumbled, sitting down next to him. "Thanks." she said, more quietly this time.

"Don't mention it." He looked at her with fondness he couldn't suppress. It had taken Alice a few days to express order a clear polish designed to prevent nail biting with its bitter pungent taste. He wasn't sure if it would work, but he figured it was worth a try. And that attempt was worth it, it seemed, to help Alia's anxiety.

Really, it was his own fault he eased up after that.

He had only addressed the physical effects of that anxiety, not the mental, not wanting to upset Alia by forcing her to see a doctor.

It was a presentation day when it happened, in their history class. Edward and Alia had naturally paired up, and were up in about half an hour. Their topic was something mundane on the American Revolution, that everyone in class was already bored with from two months of fixation on the subject.

Alia excused herself to go to the bathroom, which Mrs. Clark allowed with the warning that the presentations would be starting soon. Alia's mind was calm enough, where Edward didn't suspect a thing because of its placidity.

It was when she failed to return within 20 minutes that he realised what was happening. By then, the presentations had begun and there was no way for him to leave until class was over. Edward knew both their parts, so he confidently did the presentation on his own, rattling off about Benjamin Franklin's inconsequential life.

"Alia must be sick." He covered for his partner swiftly, and gave his teacher a charming smile. "May I go check on her, Mrs. Clark?"

"Wait until class is over, Mr. Cullen." Mrs. Clark said curtly, indicating to the next terrified pair to get up and present.

Edward sighed and relented, knowing this one wouldn't be swayed. He waited tensely for the bell to ring, and as soon as it did, he shot up and left the classroom for the girls bathrooms in the building.

He swallowed painfully as he heard the familiar sniffling coming from within. He couldn't read her mind from where he stood, but could make an educated guess as to what was going through it.

Edward caught the eye of a senior girl, who froze upon receiving his gaze. "May I ask a favor of you?"

"Yeah, of course!" she blurted out, then cleared her throat. "Anything."

"My friend is in the bathroom. Only one in there I think. Could you tell her I'm waiting for her here?"

The girl visibly deflated, but Edward smiled at her imploringly. "Your friend?"

"Yes." he nodded. "Please?"

"Oh, okay." _Then he's not taken!_ The girl left him and entered the girls bathroom, where he heard her knock on each of the stalls, until Alia gasped when hers was knocked. "Hey, uh, your friend is waiting for you outside?"

"My friend?"

"You know, Cullen. The super hot one."

"Aw fuck." Alia muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing. Thanks. I— um— I'll be out in a few minutes."

The girl came out of the bathroom and repeated Alia's message with a shrug. She looked at Edward contemplatively, but reluctantly left when the next bell rang.

Edward was alone in the halls now, leaning against the lockers across the bathroom. He sent a quick text to Emmett, and waited for Alia. It took more than a few minutes for her to emerge. More like ten minutes. She walked towards him with her head bowed and her thoughts filled with shame.

"I'm sorry for making you present alone." her voice was small, and hoarse from crying.

Edward did something he'd never done before. He drew Alia into his arms and held her close. She froze at the gesture but relaxed in his embrace, letting out a soft sigh. Her scent was nearly unbearable in its proximity, warm and honey sweet, but he had more pressing things to concentrate on, namely her.

He drew back and she finally let him see the face she had been hiding. Her eyes and nose were red from crying and her cheeks flushed. "I'm sorry."

"I couldn't tell." Edward said dryly. He put a hand on the small of her back and began to lead her. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Alia protested. _I don't want to go to class. _

"We're not going to class." Edward gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

Alia's mind raced, but she didn't say anything. It was only when Edward led her to the parking lot that she broke her silence. "Isn't that Emmett's car?"

"Good observation." Edward grinned, opening the unlocked door for her on the passenger's side. The key was in the ignition like he had asked. "Get in."

Alia only stared at him, dumbstruck. "Edward, you can't drive!"

He couldn't help but laugh at that. "Yes, I can. I'm a great driver. Trust me."

"But— but, it's not legal. You're only 15!"

"It'll be fine." Edward insisted. "Trust me?"

_Of course I trust you. _His breath caught in his throat as Alia sighed and got in at that slight question. How she could so easily do that, he would never understand. The pain of deceiving her hit him again, abruptly, and he closed the door on her and got in the driver's side to try and get some time to school his features.

Alia didn't notice. As usual. Instead, she was inspecting the inside of Emmett's impeccable Jeep. "It suits him." she laughed.

"It does." Edward smiled faintly. Emmett liked the bigger, bulkier vehicles. Showy, intimidating trucks and bikes.

He started the Jeep, which roared awake, and they were off, away from Forks High School. Alia relaxed five minutes into their drive, seeing how Edward operated the vehicle with confident ease. He drove the speed limit and everything. "Wait…" she asked, panic suddenly materialising in her mind. "How's Emmett going to get home?!"

"Rose will drive him, Alia. Don't worry."

She was doing the mental math in her head. Rosalie, Jasper, Emmett, and Alice couldn't all fit in Rosalie's two seat convertible. "Are you sure it's okay? I don't want to be an inconvenience."

"That's the last thing you are." Edward said sternly. "I took you out to help you relax, not worry more."

"I can't help it." She said sadly, the tears beginning to return, along with her self-deprecating thoughts.

"It's okay." He said, gentler this time. "Tell me about that book you're reading. The fantasy one about the Chinese girl?"

"Chinese inspired." she clarified, shoulders immediately losing some tension. "I finished the first one and I've been waiting for the library to get the sequel for a week. Ugh." _I'll just pirate it at this rate._ He smiled to himself. Alia was resorting to becoming more tech savvy to combat the limited shelves of the Forks library. She thought he would judge her, which couldn't be further from the bemused admiration he felt.

They talked, and she relaxed, not even realising that they had drove up to a hiking trail, which he parked by. "What are we doing?"

He opened the door for her and grinned. "Hiking, obviously. I know you like the woods."

She beamed at that. "Yeah! That sounds awesome! I've never actually been on a trail before."

One would think that that would be the first logical course of action when it came to exploring the forests surrounding Forks. Edward refrained himself from making that comment or delving into a lecture about the recklessness of her escapades. This was to ease her worry, not make it worse. "After you."

They began the trek up the trail, Edward keeping a close eye on Alia's very human stamina. Though she was active, there was no way for her to keep up with him, so he asked to slow down whenever she began to get tired. The more they walked along the trail, the brighter Alia's spirits seemed to get. At one point, she tried to scare him by picking up a slug and placing it on his shoulder. He only grinned and chased her with a spider that had her shrieking with laughter.

She even managed to convince him to abandon the trail entirely after a while, wanting to chase a trail of wildflowers. He wasn't confident in her ability to find her way back, but was certainly confident in his.

Eventually, they were higher up the mountain. Alia only realised this when they found themselves suddenly at an outcrop had a view of the mountaintops just overtop of the tall treeline. "Whoa." She moved past an equally amazed Edward, her eyes searching around the forest floor. "Aha! Help me out here!"

Edward moved to do so, seeing that she had her hands on tree that had fallen over. He did the brunt of the pushing, but she didn't seem to realise that as she exerted her full pressure. "Damn, we're pretty strong, huh?" she beamed with pride, once they had pushed the log to look over the natural outcrop.

"That we are." Edward hid his smirk as well as he could.

Alia plopped herself down on the makeshift bench and smiled contently at the magnificent view in front of her. Edward sat down beside her and focussed on her instead of the view. It was the case again, where he never would have guessed that she had just broken down mere hours ago.

"Alia…" The tone in Edward's voice made her smile fall as she looked at him. "I think you should see a therapist."

A brief flash of panic crossed her face before she looked down. "No, I— I can't."

"Hear me out, please?" Edward asked gently. She looked to him quickly, then nodded. She was starting to chew her lip with worry. "You can't keep going on like this. It's not healthy."

"There are no therapists in Forks." she said quickly, as if that would be enough for him.

"I know." Edward said. "Port Angeles, though has a few. Seattle has even more, if we want to go a bit further. Carlisle or your parents can recommend the best one."

"No!" she exclaimed, then looked away, blushing. "I don't want anyone else to know."

Edward stared at her for a long, lingering moment. His family knew everything about his life, but he hadn't told them about this, no matter how badly he wanted Carlisle's medical opinion. It had been a good decision, he decided as he saw the terror on her face. "Okay. No one else will know. Will you consider it now?"

He knew what her problem was. She felt embarrassed, pathetic, weak. She saw herself as a burden to everyone around her. Edward put a hand on her shoulder and she stilled. "You're not stupid for being like this. You're not weak either. Would you tell me to get help if I was in your shoes?"

"You wouldn't be."

"If I was." Edward said more insistently. "If I needed help, would you look down on me?"

"Of course not." Alia said quietly. After a minute of frantically swirling thoughts that finally stilled into quiet acceptance, she looked at him. "Okay. Fine. I guess it's worth a shot if you think it'll help."

Edward beamed at her and she punched him in the arm as a result. "Ow. I guess I'm not that strong, actually." she said, wringing out her hand with a giggle.

"I disagree. I think you're very strong."

Alia blushed at that and was quiet. He was too. It was nice to enjoy the rest of their afternoon before the overcast sky began to threaten rain. They easily found their way back to the parking lot, and were off by the time the first drops began to fall. Edward dropped her home, and watched her wave at him in the rearview mirror, sighing to himself happily with the thought that he'd finally managed to convince her to take that step she'd been avoiding.

In a week's time, he was driving her to Port Angeles to see the therapist she'd called nervously on the phone after their hike. When she came out of the office after the hour long session, it was with puffy eyes and a quiet mind.

Before he could worry and try to find out what had happened, she was hugging him tightly. "Thank you."

He didn't need to ask what she was thanking him for. Her thoughts made that clear and gave him more credit than he deserved. Instead, he hugged her back, resting his head on top of hers for a brief second before he remembered himself. "You're welcome."


	7. Chapter 7

So this was fun to write. I kind of have an idea of where I'm going with this story, in a loose sense, and charted it out a little. It looks like it's going to be 30ish chapters, with the various ideas I have. It might be longer or shorter depending on my inspiration, but for the plot I have in mind to conclude, yeah, it looks like 30 chapters.

Thanks for all your support. I'm really glad y'all are liking the friendship. It's just my personal opinion that to be in a romantic relationship requires like some friendship beforehand, which is why the genre can be so frustrating sometimes.

Enjoy!

...

Alia left the house at ten in the morning, her heart aflutter with excitement. She couldn't believe she was actually going to do this, actually going on an adventure.

Well, that was a bit of an overstatement. She was really going to catch a bus to Seattle that Saturday while her parents were away at a medical conference of their own. It had taken a bribe to get Avantika to promise to keep her mouth shut, but she really didn't mind doing two weeks of her sister's English homework.

It was an impulsive decision of course. She had been browsing the internet the night before when she'd seen that her favorite band was performing in Seattle that very weekend. She organised everything in a hurry right then and was up all night with excitement.

However, she was just past the hedge, when she bumped into what felt like a brick wall. That brick wall happened to catch her by the arms though. "Huh? Edward?" she asked, confused as she registered who it was. "What are you doing here?"

Edward tilted his head and only looked her over. When she looked at him expectantly, he held up a book. "I finished it last night. I couldn't wait to get the next book, so I came over."

Alia got distracted immediately by the book in Edward's hands. "Ooh, you liked it? That's great. I can't wait for you to get to the fourth book. The plot twist is just amaz— oops, don't want to spoil it. What did you think of—"

"Were you going somewhere, Alia?"

"Huh? Oh right." she laughed bashfully. She was leaving the house with a stuffed backpack heavier than the one she normally took out. "I'm going to Seattle today!"

"By yourself?" She could have sworn Edward's brow twitched.

"I would have invited you if I didn't decide to go at midnight." Alia grinned at him. "Also, I don't think you know the band."

"The band?!"

"Yup! Caustic Reign!" At Edward's frankly distressed look, Alia took a moment to explain fully. "They're one of those bands you called 'loud noise'. They're playing in this pub in Seattle and I thought I'd go!"

Edward only stared at her. "So let me get this straight… You randomly decided to drop everything and go to some seedy pub in a city you've never been to—"

"I've been to Seattle!"

"Going with your parents ten years ago doesn't count. Let me continue. You're going to some seedy pub in a city you've never been to just to see a band you've liked for six months?"

"So I need to know the band for a full year before moving to the next step of our relationship?" she could only grin at him.

He put his head in his hands and groaned. "You're unbelievable. Where were you thinking of staying for the night?"

"I was actually thinking of just making it a daytrip."

Edward crossed his arms and glowered at her. The expression was almost scary. "What time does your _band_ stop playing?"

"Uh, midnight I think?"

"And how long is the bus ride between Forks and Seattle?"

"Four hours… Oh. I see your point. Well, it'll just be an all-nighter. I've done plenty of those before."

"You're really set on this, aren't you?" Edward shook his head incredulously.

"Yup." Alia said honestly. "It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, Edward. How can you blame me?"

"I'm not blaming you." Edward sighed. "I just— think you're a little reckless, is all. How about this? Let me come with you."

"What? Really?" Half of her was excited at the prospect of spending the day with her best friend and sharing the experience of Caustic Reign. The other was pissed off that Edward thought she couldn't do something as simple as getting on a bus by herself.

"You don't want me to come?" Edward said quietly at the long silence he was greeted with.

"No… it's just. You don't like the band, so I don't get why you'd want to come along."

"I like spending time with you." Alia couldn't help but smile at that. "Besides, driving is a lot faster than taking the bus. You could shave off a few hours of the trip that way. I also haven't been to Seattle yet and was interested in checking it out."

"And you're worried about me."

There was a pause in Edward's breathing. "I won't lie. I am."

Alia bit her lip. Even though he could be overbearing, he was sincere. And the best friend a girl could ask for. "Well, okay. I swear, you're on old lady trapped in the body of a teenage boy. Let's do it. One condition: you have to give the band a chance, kay?"

"I swear." Edward grinned.

"Hey Edward?" Alia asked when he came to pick her up half an hour later with his own bag and silver Volvo that he was now legally able to drive. "You seem tired. Are you sure you're up for driving?"

"Of course." Edward said. It was a thing with Edward. He had these occasional bouts where he looked exhausted, with his skin paler than normal, and eyes a darker shade of green. Maybe his eyes just looked darker because of the bruise like bags under his eyes. It was his oddly delicate health, he'd explained once when she'd asked earlier in their friendship. He usually bounced back immediately. He smiled at the concerned look on his face. "Who's a worried old lady now? We'll pull over if I faint, alright?"

"Okay!"

The drive passed by in a flash. Edward was amused that in the time he'd taken to go home and get ready for the journey, she had printed out multiple maps with various routes for them to take that she'd labelled in purple sharpie, but she didn't see why being prepared was funny. It wasn't like he'd ever driven to Seattle before!

"You brought your medication, right?" he asked, as they were pulling into the city.

"Shit." she scrambled through her bag, trying to remember if she'd packed it. "Yeah, it's here." she waved the little pill box with the sectioned days in it. She'd been super careful to take her prescription at 10 pm every night as her doctor told her to. Edward nodded in satisfaction and they resumed their conversation about the latest series they were reading.

Since they got to Seattle by the afternoon, they had time to kill until the concert. Alia delighted in all the shops that Forks didn't have and used the money she'd been saving up from working at the library to buy a few games for her Nintendo as well as a dozen books that she'd never seen in the Forks library.

"Lovecraft?" Edward asked, inspecting the largest anthology she'd picked up when she dumped her shopping bags in the Volvo.

"What can I say? I'm feeling spooky."

He gave her a funny look, but didn't comment on it further. Instead, he came up with a brilliant idea to go see the museum and art gallery, which Alia would have spent a week in if she had the opportunity. She loved all the historical stuff in Forks, especially with the stuff at the reserve, but none of it held a candle to the vast collections in the Seattle museum.

When it was time for the concert, they hunted down the bar downtown. Suddenly, Alia was glad that Edward was by her side, because all the patrons of the bar were older, at least college students, if not full on biker types. She'd never tell him, but she definitely felt safer with him there. "Oh, Caustic _Reign_, I get it." Edward mused with a half-smile. "Shall we?"

It was as magical as she was hoping it'd be. The lead singer had an enchanting, powerful presence and her voice was just as good live. It had to be to compete with the powerful instruments of the band. They sat at a small table Edward managed to snag, with a good view of the band and everyone crowding and shoving by the stage.

Even Edward had a few compliments to pay on their drive back, which was surprising because he looked like the music was almost painfully loud or something. Alia raved with all her excitement about her favorite moments, and then promptly fell asleep by the time they reached the highway.

She woke up to Edward tapping her on the shoulder gently. She rubbed her heavy eyes and saw that they were in front of her house in Forks and it was still pitch black out. "Wow, that was fast." She saw that he had placed his coat on top of her like a blanket, which she folded and put on the seat and stepped out of the car with her bags. "Thanks Edward." she said with a sleepy smile as he rolled down the window and poked his head out. "This was the best day ever."

"I had fun too." Edward admitted with a smile. "Get some rest now."

"You too! See you at school!" she rolled her eyes to see him wait until she was in the house before driving away. She went up the stairs and fell straight into bed with a content sigh.

It may have been an impulsive choice, but she didn't regret it for a second.


	8. Chapter 8

This chapter's really short. Sorry? I stretched this idea to its limit, and didn't want to muddle anything else in there.

Oh, also to that hilarious guest review by 'wow', I just want to say thanks. I don't need your permission to write my story the way I want, but I'm amazed the idea of it annoyed you so much you had to leave a review then run away. Also, black people existed in 1915, especially in the South. Trust me. Being born in the early 20th century in the South does not belong to white people and Emmett literally has nothing else to his backstory.

One note: I chose to make Alice Chinese specifically because Chinese Americans have a long and overlooked history in America since the first wave immigration of the 19th century. Honestly, Alice being born Chinese-American or half-Chinese-American is more unbelievable than Emmett being black because the conditions for the early Chinese-American population were really terrible. But I kind of shrugged and did it anyway because I thought it'd be fun, also because in the movies, Catherine Hardwicke wanted to make Alice Japanese but was shut down by Meyer, so that inspired me to make her Asian. God hasn't struck me down for daring to racebend, so I think I'll continue.

I'm also not even going to address the stupidity of 'but there are natives, so why are you complaining', argument. I am not educated enough to evaluate the merits of Meyers portrayal of indigenous people, but there isn't a magical quota you reach with people of colour that once hit.

Sorry for the little rant, to the lovely people who have been so nice to me and so supportive. It just grates on me a little when people try to talk down to me about race and stuff, when it's one of my academic interests. People of colour have always been around, we've just been continuously erased from cultural memory because it's inconvenient. I'm not claiming to do anything groundbreaking here, this is Twilight fanfiction being written in 2020, lol, which is why I find it so silly that its outrageous for some that I dare do such a thing.

Um, also I don't want anyone to think that I don't want anyone to engage with my work critically. I love discussion, and don't want to come across as spiteful. I just stated from the beginning that this is a 'for fun' thing for me, and not something that I expect anyone to take super seriously.

If you made it through that, wow. Good job. Now enjoy some fanfiction. I'll try to release more tomorrow or the next day.

Enjoy!

...

Alia supposed she shouldn't have been surprised that Edward found her. This was her favorite spot, after all, the low and sturdy branch of a solitary oak. "Hey." she said lamely.

"I heard what happened." She snorted. Of course. It was a small town and news spread fast. She wouldn't be surprised if Avantika had gone by and told every household herself before she left.

Edward climbed up beside her and she scooted over for him. "Are you doing okay?" he asked gently.

"Fine, I guess. Just kind of annoyed." he waited and she let out a long sigh before ranting. "She wants to be a model, for fuck's sake. She couldn't have at least finished high school? She had a few months left. What a moron. A greasy sleazeball in Port Angeles tells her she's pretty and she packs up and leaves?"

Edward listened to her patiently and sympathetically as she spilled her guts. The worst part wasn't waking up and finding her older sister, her last sibling, gone with an impersonal note. The worst part was her parents, who made a show of being angry, but were truly just impassive and more disappointed in the shame of what Avantika did instead of the fact that they'd lost a child. They didn't even want her back, quick to write her off as a lost cause. "Fine by me!" Her mother had raged. "We can use her college fund for more productive means since she's going to waste her life!"

"She always joked about it, but I never thought she'd actually do it." Alia said quietly.

"Maybe she'll come back." Edward suggested softly.

"No." Alia couldn't help the few tears that came to her eyes. "She hated Forks. She's going to get somewhere hot and sunny and forget all about us. I just _wish_ she would've told me, you know. We weren't close, but she could have warned me a little."

Moments like these, Alia hated change. She hated that this was forcing her to confront her own future and what she would do once Forks became too small for even her nature loving self. There were no colleges in Forks. She had to leave if she wanted to grow, and that was terrifying. If it were up to her, she'd stay a child forever.

Edward could only stare at her sadly as she contemplated these things. She would never understand, but it was that very change that made her and other humans so beautiful and worthwhile. Alia was almost sixteen now. Still maintaining that childish look to her, but growing every day. She would leave eventually too, go to college, excel in her field of literature, probably write a novel or two. She'd settle down in an apartment overlooking whatever city she chose with a human partner who would change along with her regardless of what life threw their way.

Then, even later, she'd have children, forming a relationship with them that her own parents had neglected to form with her. She'd age, a proud parent, and even later a grandparent. He knew that she'd still maintain that childlike wonder and passion that he so admired in her, but age and wisdom would temper it.

Meanwhile, he would stay the same. The same seventeen year old boy while Alia grew and forgot about him and their friendship when her life brought about more important things and people. The thought hurt him in a way he hadn't been hurt in a long time.

"Hey," Alia was looking at him contemplatively. His sadness must have been written on his face. "You don't need to feel too bad for me. It'll all blow over and we'll go back to normal. I'm done ranting." she smiled. "But I might need to crash at your place tonight. My parents are going to be _so_ annoying for a while."

Alia's mood truly was lighter after talking, so Edward let himself be directed elsewhere in conversation. They went back to their usual selves, two teenagers just hanging out, ignoring the spectre of time looming over them. Their thoughts were similar as they left the woods that afternoon.

_Even if things change, I'll enjoy life as I go._

_Even when she goes out of my reach, I'll treasure each moment spent together. _


	9. Chapter 9

Sorry this took so long! I wasn't happy with the first draft, so I stared at it a whole bunch before rewriting a lot of it. The result is a lot of extra fluff between the Cullens... so hopefully that's good, aha.

Also, thanks so much for your support regarding my statements in the last author's note. It means a lot that people are on board with some of my ideas regarding the series.

Anyways, enjoy!

...

Edward watched the scene in front of him with a frown, leaning against a tree. "You're sure it's going to be sturdy?"

"Don't ask stupid questions." He winced as Rosalie hit him not so accidently with a heavy wooden brace as she passed by, her golden hair tied in a bun at the back of her head. "Esme's the architect, not you." she said, joining Esme at the base of where she was working.

Rosalie had rolled her eyes when Edward had first raised the idea, but here she was, exerting her control and all but taking over the project, all while insisting that it was stupid and she was only doing so to make sure it was done properly. He wasn't at all bitter that she was contributing more than him. "No one asked you to help." he muttered.

"Ha? You think you can do better than me?" Rosalie smiled mockingly. "Come back when you have an engineering degree or two. Oh wait..."

That was low. Rosalie would never let him live down the fact that he couldn't do equations to save his life despite the years he tried to master basic mathematics. As if being able to do math was so special. The joke was on her. Her skills were being done by computers now, and her fancy degrees would soon be useless.

"Stop it, you two." Esme poked her head up from the massive pile of blueprints that were strewn out around them on the forest floor.

They both conceded, though not after shooting each other another glare.

"Someone ordered more supplies!?" Emmett announced his presence after half an hour of Edward watching Rosalie and Esme work, carrying about two tonnes of wooden planks and iron beams on his shoulders. Immediately, the frigidity around Rosalie faded as she beamed at Emmett.

"Put them there. _Gently_, Emmett."

"Yes, Mom."

Edward felt a twinge of something bitter as Emmett leaned down and kissed Rosalie, and how she melted against him in turn. He looked away with a sigh, used to the fact that he couldn't avoid the sappy emotions because of his ability. Emmett joined in on the construction, following Esme and Rosalie's orders attentively.

Alice distracted Edward from his musings as she hopped in front of him. "I'm positive she'd like my idea better." she pouted.

"Liar." Edward said, reading her visions at the different responses. His idea got the better response, Alice saw too and resorted to flicking him in the forehead. Wincing, he finally looked at her properly to see her outfit. "_What_ are you wearing?"

Alice grinned, and snapped her suspenders, twirling around. "I'm going to help too!"

She was dressed in a not at all practical outfit, that he saw in her mind was supposed to resemble a construction worker. Really, it was more like an expensive version of the terrible halloween costumes with the little shorts and high heeled boots. The only indicator of it actually being a construction outfit was the little orange vest that came to her midriff over a white tank top and the hardhat she had angled carefully over her pixie cut.

Edward let out one chuckle, which grew into a full blown laugh. He couldn't stop laughing at her even as Alice began yelling in outrage. This resulted in a chase, which frankly, was in Edward's favour due to his faster speed and her heeled shoes. Still, the tree branches Alice pelted at him were hard to dodge when he was focused on running.

So focussed in fact that he hadn't noticed the presence that had snuck up on him until he was reading his mind. By then it was too late, and Jasper had him in a headlock as Alice closed in from behind. "Started the fun without me?" he asked.

Jasper's eyes were bright from the hunt he had just gone on. Jasper still struggled with the animal diet and needed to hunt more frequently than the rest of them, despite his occasional challenges to himself to see how long he could last without blood.

Edward waited for the right moment (it came when Jasper cast his attention to Alice and her outfit), and then twisted out of his grip.

"If you have time to mess around, come help!" Rosalie demanded from back at the building site. "Jasper, help with the knee braces! Alice, stay out of the way and try not to distract Jasper!"

As Alice let out an offended gasp, Jasper smiled apologetically and prepared to run off and do as Rosalie said, not before stopping to peck Alice on the cheek. "Sorry, darlin'. Her majesty's orders."

"I heard that!"

"I know!"

That left a pouting Alice and Edward to watch as the rest of them continued their work. Efficiently, to Edward's annoyance. Esme was a genius when it came to anything building related, and even he had to admit that Rosalie was somewhat competent.

When Carlisle came to check on them later that evening after his shift at the hospital, he saw the project all but finished. "Ah, I missed it." he said ruefully. "Next time, shall we do something like this on my day off?"

"Edward waited until the last minute." Esme said, moving to him. Edward was inspecting the work from all angles, while arguing with Rosalie about the sturdiness of it all. "The poor boy was planning on doing this all by himself, if you can believe it."

"That would be a sight." Carlisle chuckled. "It's good to see them working together," he said in a lower voice, watching the group of their children laugh and bicker.

"It is, isn't it?" Esme beamed at him, threading her fingers through his to watch the sight as well. They waited patiently until Edward was fully satisfied, before leaving together for the house.

The next day, Edward left the house as soon as he heard Alia arrived. He had asked her to meet him there, after all. "Come with me." he said before she could get a word out.

After a brief drive, and dodging the questions she threw his way they found themselves in a part of the woods. Edward produced a strip of dense fabric and grinned at Alia. "Close your eyes."

She stared at him incredulously, but laughed. "Okay…"

As he secured the blindfold behind her head, he shook his head, irritated. Really, she just let him blindfold her with no questions? She trusted him far too much.

He began to lead her through the woods, with a hand on her shoulder, and a vigilant eye on where her feet were treading. Three minutes into their walk, Alia giggled. "It's kind of creepy to lead me into the woods like this, Edward. I'm not gonna lie."

"Hm. Yes, you figured it out. After all this time, _now_, I'm choosing to murder you. You got me."

"Ha ha. But really, where are we going?" Her brain was swimming with several possibilities. All of them wrong.

"Have some patience. You'll see."

"But I can't _see _with this blindfold on!"

"Shush." Edward hushed her. He stopped her as they stepped in front of yesterday's labour. He rolled his eyes as he heard the presence of several people hiding not so subtly around the area, away from human detection. There was no avoiding that with how nosy his family was.

"Okay…" he turned her so she was facing it perfectly. "And… here we are."

Edward removed the blindfold in a swift motion and watched Alia blink and adjust to the sudden light before her eyes settled on what he had prepared for her. She gasped as her mind fully registered what she was seeing. "No way. No fucking way."

He came up beside her and grinned. "Happy birthday."

"You…" she could only stare at it flabbergasted, before turning to him with wide eyes. "You actually— how did you—"

What she was sputtering over was the magnificent treehouse they were standing in front. The treehouse was built between two sturdy trees, leaving the main platform with plenty of space. Though Esme was a professional, the structure had a rustic look to it, with ivy climbing around the trunks of the tree with the ladder built into it. At the top of the treehouse, was another platform with a hatch one could stick their head out of with a rope ladder connecting that to the main platform. And of course, Esme had ensured that it was fully weatherproof as well as earthquake resistant.

Alia was still stunned as she took it all in. "It's too much. You can't have done this all by yourself?"

"Of course not." Edward said easily. "It was already here, I just fixed it up a bit with some help."

Rosalie snorted from where she was leaning against a tree. If he could read her mind from where he was standing, he knew she'd be criticizing how little he had actually contributed. Well, it technically wasn't a lie. What he neglected to mention was that what was there before was a ruined, rotted, mess that needed to be removed and rebuilt from scratch.

It wasn't a question of whether she'd like it, it was a question of whether she'd accept it. He knew her mind. He knew she had fantasised about having a treehouse ever since she was a little girl. But with parents who were always busy, and siblings who detested the outdoors, she had never even voiced the desire, let alone expect it.

Despite knowing how much she would love it, he was still surprised when Alia hugged him tightly around the middle. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! This is the best gift ever! You're the best!" She beamed up at him excitedly, then ran to check out the interior.

He let out a sigh of relief as he heard her squeal in excitement at the interior. "Thank you." he said quietly, to those listening, before following Alia up the ladder of the treehouse.

The treehouse became her new favorite spot, the poor oak she'd had as a sanctuary being abandoned. She brought in her own little touches that made it Edward's favorite spot too: her favorite blanket that she left there permanently, a little shelf from her room to store books when it was too rainy to move them, colourful curtains that she threw against the walls, and posters of her favorite bands.

All in all, it was a successful venture.

...

I came up with a headcanon writing this chapter: Edward is bad at math and only got through med school by being a mind reader. You can't change my mind. That boy's constitution is too weak for algebra and Rosalie will never let him live it down.


	10. Chapter 10

Thanks for your kind reviews, everyone! This chapter's kind of a transitiony one, as it marks the beginning of the next school year. A lot of plot stuff will happen soon, which you'll have to look forward to.

Also, to jingerr, thanks for asking about casting. It honestly wasn't something I'd considered, so I delved into an hour of research and staring at various actors, even considering the casting of the other Cullens! Here's what I had in mind:

Edward: I actually like Robert Pattinson: I think he's a good Edward as it is. Maybe because I recently watched 'The King' and couldn't stop giggling when he was on screen.

Alia: Aparna Brielle: but a little chubbier. I was tempted to go with Bollywood actresses, but opted for someone who acts in Western media instead.

Jasper: Gaspard Ulliel: but blonde, obviously

Alice: Zhou Dongyu: fits my image of Alice almost perfectly!

Rosalie: Doutzen Kroes, is literally a Victoria Secret model, and gorgeous, so there you go.

Emmett: Stephan James: who I like as Emmett, considering he has this sweet, childishness to his features.

Carlisle: Aaron Taylor-Johnson: this is probably the weirdest choice I made, but I'm obsessed with him in Anna Karenina, and thought, hey, he's super pretty blond, why not make him Carlisle?

Esme: Jane Levy: She's so pretty and looks so sweet, that I see her as Esme.

The thing about fancasting that always weirds me out is the matter of heights, because you could find someone perfect, then oops, they're too short or they're the wrong age. Obviously, with my choices, adjust for height, ages, and hair colors.

Also, these are just my opinions. I firmly believe that the author is dead and you can imagine characters as whoever you like.

Enjoy!

...

Alia could hardly believe that she only had two more years left in high school.

The eleventh grade started off strong. Alia was delighted when she and Edward compared schedules, to see that they had most of the same classes together. "Why aren't you in AP Physics?" she'd asked, confused. "You're good at it and it's the only AP course in school."

"I don't need it," he'd shrugged. "I'm not planning on becoming a physicist."

"But you'd get extra college credits."

"It's not worth the extra homework. Besides, you need someone to copy off of in Biology."

He got a shove for that and a passionate speech about the evils of plagiarism. Alia wasn't going to complain further. She didn't suspect, of course, that Edward had purposely chosen all the same classes as her. When they first met, the tenth grade classes had already been selected, so they only had English, History, and Chemistry together last year. Now, they had everything save for P.E, which he got exempt from because of his delicate health, like the rest of his siblings. After all, it wouldn't do to accidentally kill a classmate during a friendly game of soccer.

Alice, being the only one of his siblings in his year, had also signed up for many of their classes, to Alia's delight, and Edward's frustration. He had tried to keep his schedule a secret, but couldn't do much against a psychic, now could he? She sat a few rows behind them in most classes (with Alia now confident enough to choose the front row seats), usually with a terrified junior. Edward appreciated that even though she was snooping in on their conversations, she wasn't being _too _annoying.

With the new year, Alia had decided to chop off most of her hair, as well, something that surprised him when he came to pick her up. (That was new as well. Now that he was able to drive according to the law, he insisted on driving her to school in his car and back instead of the walking she used to do). "It looks good." he said honestly, surprised by the way the chin length cut suited her round face, especially with her natural waves.

"Thanks." she beamed at him, running a hand through it. "This is just step one. I'm going to shave half of it next time." At his horrified look, she laughed heartily.

She was only kidding, but the image made him shudder. She really was listening to too much punk music. He was half afraid she'd move to pick up an electric guitar next. "Well, I'll support you whatever you decide." he shook his head. "Still, maybe sleep on it?"

"Good plan."

Maybe it was the new hair, but Edward was hyper aware that Alia was changing physically as well. She had been a late bloomer, but was coming into her own. It looked like she had stopped growing with the few inches she'd gained last year, stopping a few inches above five feet. Her skin cleared and she lost some of the baby fat in her face.

She also switched to contact lenses, which she wore most days now instead of the thick glasses that she hated. Edward prefered the glasses, finding them cute, but couldn't deny that it was nice to see her without the glasses to hide behind and the extra confidence.

And… well, he was privy to the other changes she was going through, something he felt extremely guilty and awkward about. She had developed healthy curves. Edward was rendered a flustered mess whenever Alia herself pondered these changes, something he was grateful he had the ability to hide.

What he found more difficult to hide, however, was his fury at the other boys around them who had also begun to notice Alia's changing figure. Teenage hormones, at this age ran rampant, as he well knew from having lived through high school several times. He wasn't new to perverted thoughts, with two sisters who were frequently the objects of admiration from many a lonely teenage boy, not to mention, by living with three couples. This, however, grated on his nerves in a way that few things did.

Luckily, all he had to do was shoot a murderous look and most ceased their thoughts, moving on to subjecting other poor girls to their fantasies as if turning a page in a book. Alia, too was none the wiser, oblivious to the opposite sex, still thinking of herself as the same mousy child she was a few years ago. He knew that she (and frankly, everyone in his family) would roll their eyes at him for thinking this way, but he thought of himself as her protector. He felt no guilt in protecting her from those whose intentions he knew to be indecent.

Despite those complications, the year felt promising, yet rife with anticipation of things to come.


	11. Chapter 11

Edward is a disaster and I love him. Once again, I'm so happy ya'll are enjoying this. You'll find that things are going to escalate a little quickly now that things are a bit established (there'll still be fluff, don't worry).

Enjoy!

...

Jasper realised it before Edward did, on an ordinary school day during lunch. He could only stare at the pair of friends with wide eyes.

Alia was frantically trying to do as much of her psychology homework as she could, eyes darting from the textbook to her notebook rapidly. From focusing on them with his enhanced hearing, he could hear her muttering curses under her breath and refusing Edward's occasionally offer of copying his homework.

That wasn't what had him surprised. It was Edward. He was leaning on one hand, watching Alia with an amused smirk on his face. He gave her suggestions on her homework, laughing outright when she flipped him off. When she wasn't looking at him, his eyes softened, and his gaze looked downright tender.

Edward had fallen in love with her.

It was love, pure and simple. Jasper recognised it when he felt it. It wasn't the type of love Edward had for his family. It was the type of love Jasper felt for Alice. That Alice felt for him. The aching, longing kind where you wanted nothing more than to wrap yourself around the other for eternity. Obviously, feelings like that didn't develop all at once. It must have been building without him or Edward realising it.

Jasper felt a rush of pity at this realisation. They all were aware of Edward's plans of letting his human go once she was out of high school. But this… he would suffer for letting her go. And yet he was stubborn. He valued her humanity far too much to ever let his feelings be known.

Since it concerned Edward's feelings, Jasper deflected the question when Alice asked him what was wrong. She frowned but let it go. They had that level of trust where she knew he told her everything important. This, though important, was Edward's business.

Jasper had managed to shove the realisation to a corner of his mind for the next few days. It came to a head when he saw Edward playing at his grand piano. Jasper paused in the sitting room, looking up from his laptop, as Edward worked out the song he'd been composing for the past few months.

He found himself wandering to where Edward was playing, observing the sweet melody, from the door. It was a soft, reflective song, though it picked up in places with bright, cheerful parts, so different from the somber tones Edward normally favored. Once again, that same feeling Jasper observed earlier was pouring from Edward as he played the song, though his expression gave nothing away.

"It's complete, then?" Esme asked, rushing into the room once the final note rang through the air. She was Edward's biggest fan, keeping track of all his new compositions.

"I think so." Edward smiled gently at the piano, tapping one key quietly again and again.

"It's beautiful! What are you going to call it?" she asked.

"Hmm… I'm not sure." Edward stopped his repetitive playing.

"Let me know when you name it." Esme said brightly, running up the stairs to continue her painting.

How blind was Edward? The name for the song was obvious, in Jasper's opinion, as obvious as the inspiration was. Edward's gaze snapped to Jasper sharply as that thought drifted to him. He tried to keep his thoughts still, but Edward frowned at him. "You're only going to make me more curious."

Jasper sighed and let the memory of that fateful afternoon flow through his mind. Edward froze, still as a statue as he read Jasper's thoughts. A rush of new emotions flowed through him: fear, panic, hurt, and most of all, that love that Jasper had detected earlier. "I—" Edward, for once, was at a loss for words.

_You don't have to explain yourself_. Jasper thought. _It's your business, so I won't tell anyone._

Edward put a hand to his face. "I know. Thank you. I— I'm going out."

He was out of the house in a blur, slamming the door with more force than was necessary, leading Esme to come down the stairs once more in the next split second, giving Jasper a bewildered look. "What's going on?"

"One of his moods." Jasper shrugged. "He'll be fine. I think."

Edward just ran, ran through the blur of the forest, trying desperately not to think, but focus on woods around him. He stopped when he found himself unknowingly in front of the treehouse he'd built for Alia and collapsed on his knees. "No."

Of course he'd fallen in love with her. How could he not? Alia was everything that he liked about humanity, but so much more. Sweet. Kind. Passionate. Optimistic. Willing to spar with him verbally and challenge him. In watching her grow, she had somehow forced growth on him as well. She had her flaws, her stubborn quirks that made him want to tear his hair out, but more than that, made him want to support her further.

This was more than just a platonic love, he realised with despair. He wanted to hold her as a lover, to brush her hair behind her ear, trace her full lips with a finger before tasting them. He wanted to be the cause of her smiles, her blushes, to selfishly horde them as his own wealth. He wanted… he wanted a future with her. To woo her properly, to share in life's experiences and tragedies. To grow old with her. Never before had he longed to be human so badly.

When did this happen? He tried to pinpoint the exact moment. Was it one of the times she'd hugged him tightly, trusting in him enough to make herself so vulnerable? Was it when she cried after being moved by one of the times he'd played the piano for her? Was it when watching one of the countless moments of joy or passion cross her visage?

Perhaps it happened a month ago. The two of them had taken shelter in the treehouse from the pouring rain, and Alia had drifted off to sleep against his shoulder. He had taken the opportunity to listen to her dreams, and felt his non beating heart quicken to see they involved him in some form or another. When she had begun to stir, he'd quickly pretended to be asleep himself, to see, out of some morbid curiosity, how she would react. Instead of being repulsed at the nearness, she had sighed sweetly, and draped a blanket over his body, tucking in the sides, before continuing the reading she had begun before, still tucked into his side.

Maybe it was all of those moments. Maybe it was none of those. Maybe it had built slowly, or happened suddenly just as Jasper was observing him. It didn't matter. What mattered was what he was going to do with the realisation.

It took an hour of contemplation before Edward got up and steeled himself. He walked home instead of running.

He wasn't a fool. He knew if he wanted to, he could act, let his feelings be known to her and she'd respond. Why wouldn't she? He knew she found him attractive. It was a curse of being a vampire that humans were drawn to their beauty. They were prey, after all, and couldn't help themselves.

Obviously, that wasn't what was going to happen. It didn't matter what he wanted. He could hold himself back, would have to. He was going to continue being her friend, her confidant. He would keep his feelings to himself (and Jasper), and live through the years with the thought of her as a beautiful, torturous memory.

It was the only thing to do. Edward wouldn't drag her down to hell because of his selfish desires.

...

Edward still hasn't decided on a name for the song, btw. If you want to know what it sounds like, great, so do I! I'm garbage at composition, but I think it's a bit like Ghibli music because that's really sweet and cheerful, while giving you the feels. Maybe like the Howl's Moving Castle theme?

I hope his feelings aren't too sudden. I think this was the right time, and he needed to be punched in the face with them because the boy is in deep denial. I wonder how Alia feels, hmm...


	12. Chapter 12

Look at me, pumping out another chapter so fast, meheh. This is pure fluff based on a passing thought I had, so enjoy.

overlordred: your comments are a constant delight, I definitely have stuff planned, oho

marlastiano: All I'm going to say is that it's Edward, of course he's going to goof

MysticEm: a ship name?! Amazing, thanks! Also if you want Rose and Alia, you're gonna have to stick around cause I might have some stuff planned

...

"You gave me your word." Alice said with delight, looming over her with a terrifying grin with weapons in hand. "You can't back out now."

Alia stared at her nervously. Alice had asked for a favor and Alia had agreed immediately, not suspecting that this was what she had planned. Edward snorted from where he was leaning against the bathroom door with crossed arms. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to, Alia."

Alice in turn gave him an obscene gesture without turning. "Not your problem, Edward. Go away."

He only moved when Alia gave him a reassuring smile. "It's okay. I can take whatever she has to offer."

"That's the spirit!"

Edward rolled his eyes. "Call me if you need to dispose of the body." he said to Alia before walking away.

Now alone with her, Alice turned her critical brown eyes upon Alia. "I'm thinking a natural look to start out with… Unless you want to get crazy right off the bat."

"Nothing crazy at all please." Alia said weakly. "I'm new to this."

"Really?" at her nod, Alice pouted. "_Fine_."

It really wasn't all that bad. Alia watched as Alice dug around the gigantic suitcase of makeup she had on the granite counter of the Cullens' bathroom, until she had a whole cache of different products laid out.

She began with some watery lotion that smelled like roses, which put Alia at ease as Alice spread it over her cheeks and neck with cool fingers. Then came out a whole host of brushes and sponges that Alice used to apply foundation and concealer that matched Alia's skin tone. How Alice had a variety of products in her shade, she didn't know.

As Alice set the liquid stuff with a powder that looked white, but showed up clear on her skin, Alia could already see the effects of the makeup, smoothing out her skin and removing the dark circles that were always present even with an abundance of sleep. It was a little weird, actually.

Then came the eye stuff, where Alice used a combination of brown eye shadows to add depth to Alia's eyelids with some black eyeliner on her upper and lower lids, making them look huge. "I just love your eyes. You have so much to work with." Alice commented as she added mascara, indicating to her own delicate Asian eyelids with frustration. "And your eyelashes are so long and curly."

"Thanks." Alia said, a little embarrassed at the compliment, especially when it came from someone as gorgeous as Alice. "I grew them myself."

Alice stopped mid sweep and laughed before clearing her throat and continuing with a grin. "Deflect all you want. I think you're really pretty."

Alia smiled shyly at that comment. No one had really called her pretty before. Her mom was always a pragmatist and tried to make sure that her daughters cared more about their brains than their looks, so she was careful not to give them any compliments. She failed spectacularly with Avantika, but Alia took her approach to heart.

Beauty was subjective and all, but she knew she wasn't conventionally pretty. Her nose too long and non-European, her cheeks round and not at all chiseled, the little stubborn bit of fat under her chin. She supposed the closest she could get was 'cute', but appreciated Alice's compliment all the same.

"Pick a lipstick!" Alice said, once she had applied a subtle coral color to her cheeks gently and something shimmery on the tops of her cheeks and under her eyebrows. Alia frowned and looked over the selection of neutral red-browns.

Her eyes were drawn to a shade that Alice wasn't holding, and Alice noticed. "Ooh." Alice immediately abandoned the neutral tones and reached for the dark berry color Alia had glanced at. "Good choice."

"Oh, I wasn't actually— I mean, isn't it a little too much?"

"Makeup," Alice said sagely, beginning to apply the color to Alia's lips, "is about having fun. And this is a way more fun color. See? Wow!"

The glossy, deep berry shade worked with the minimal makeup Alice had put on her eyes, making her look particularly vampy, but not like she was a full on goth. "Wow." Alia echoed, memorising the final product. "You did good."

"Naturally." Alice grinned.

Alia smiled, watching the cooler girl across from her in the mirror do the same. Maybe if she was more confident, she could wear makeup like this in public. But that was a long way off. "I'm really grateful, Alice. But I don't think this is going to last in the weather outside."

Alice nodded. "Yeah, you're right. But before we take it off, let me take a few pictures." At Alia's horrified look, Alice clapped her hands together and batted her lashes. "Please? Just for my own record to remember all my hard work?"

Alia blanched at that look. Alice had convinced her to do this by bringing up her dream of becoming a makeup artist. "Well… when you put it like that… I guess a few pictures couldn't hurt. As long as you don't share them or anything."

"Yay!" And Alice was off in a flash, leaving Alia sitting on the stool inspecting herself from different angles. _Yeah, I look kind of hot. I get why people do this._

"So you're done?" Alia jumped and turned to see Edward back. He was inspecting her appearance with slightly wide eyes. His eyes fluttered down to her lipstick then back up so quickly, she may have imagined it. Did she really look that different?

"We're done." she suddenly felt self-conscious. She wasn't planning on displaying the make-up, but only putting it on for Alice to have her fun. "It feels like a lot for everyday, but it was actually pretty fun. How do I look?"

"Beautiful."

Alia couldn't help but smile at that exaggeration. "Thanks."

Edward opened his mouth, but was pulled back by a tiny Alice, who then took his place. "Stop hogging my model. Begone!"

He rolled his eyes and offered one last soft smile to Alia before disappearing again.

Alice insisted on taking ten minutes worth of pictures with her fancy, big camera, making sure to get several angles and adjusting the lighting. "Okay, I'm done. Let's clean you up."

When Alice had wiped off the makeup with a rag covered in some sort of fragrant oil, Alia was relieved to see her normal face again. "Keep these." Alice said, handing her a small bag with eyeliner, mascara, lip gloss, and that berry lipstick. "No arguments. It's thanks for letting me doll you up, okay?"

"Okay." Alia conceded, taking the bag. Alice was a force of nature that she wouldn't risk defying.

Over the next few weeks, Alia found herself experimenting. She never wore all of it at once, especially in public, but it was fun to play with. No one seemed to notice when she did wear makeup, to her relief, when she did occasionally wear mascara or lip gloss to school, but it felt kind of nice for her to know it was there.

She knew she would never be able to commit to wearing full heavy makeup every day. While she admired girls who could do it, it felt too much like deception to her. Not even to others, but to herself. She remembered how Avantika was always so self critical of her face when she removed her makeup in the evenings and didn't want to cause herself any additional self-esteem issues.

Alia had enough things to worry about. Makeup would remain an occasional bout in art for her, nothing more.


	13. Chapter 13

Whoo, this happened to a friend of mine and it sucked!

...

It happened during the few sunny days in a row when the Cullens were out camping.

While Alia really only counted Edward as her friend, she was getting along better with the rest of her classmates, especially since she was conscious of and being treated for her severe anxiety. She participated much more in class and made the occasional joke. She was no longer terrified of asking someone for a pencil or saying 'excuse me' to push through a crowd. If she saw someone doing something well, she made sure to compliment them. Perhaps she'd never be a full extrovert, but she was definitely more confident these days.

So, when in their history class, Mrs. Clark ordered them to form up in pairs for a two day project, Alia shrugged and looked around for someone not taken since her usual partner was away. To her surprise, she was approached not long after beginning her search by a tall, gangly boy with glasses. Connor, if she remembered correctly. "Hey Alia, mind being my partner? I'd like to ace this project."

"Sure." Alia said, offering a smile. She wouldn't let him make her do all the work, however. Still, from what she knew of the boy, Connor was one of those smart popular kids who wasn't a slacker. He was head of the photography club or something like that. "Honestly, I haven't read the chapter yet on the railroad, but I should be done for tomorrow's class. Do you have any ideas on what you want to work on?"

"No worries." He grinned. "I kind of like the idea of connectivity, or whatever."

They actually spent the class productively, which was nice. When they walked out of class, Connor chose to ditch his group of friends to walk with her. "You're not as quiet as I expected you to be."

"Sorry to disappoint."

"Nah, I meant it in a good way. You wanna grab lunch with us since Cullen's out?"

Alia smiled softly. "Thanks, but I have a lot of work to do in the library, so I'm gonna have to pass."

Connor smiled back. "That's cool. See you in class tomorrow. I'll bring that article I mentioned."

That encounter had Alia in a good mood for the rest of the day and made her put her all into the project. She was never going to replace her best friend, but good social interactions still made her happy and more friends never hurt. The next day, they all but finished the project an hour in advance and handed it in, leading them to chat for the rest of class about games and movies.

"You gotta get a PS2, if you're serious about gaming." Connor said authoritatively. "You haven't _really_ gamed on the kiddie stuff."

Alia only nodded placatingly, not showing her annoyance at the condescending tone. He surely didn't know how he was coming across. "I'll think about it if I have the time."

Connor walked with her again after class unprompted. This time, he didn't ask about lunch but instead asked Alia to meet him after school by his locker for a favor. Before Alia could respond, he was off in a flash. Not questioning it, Alia headed off to the library again and then spent the rest of her day in boredom.

She wasn't one to ignore a request so she went to the designated spot where Connor was talking to some of his friends. One of them said something, and they all laughed at the joke. She really didn't want to interrupt the group, and was debating just leaving, when Connor spotted her and grinned broadly. "Hey, Alia."

"Hey." she said awkwardly. "You wanted to talk about something?"

"Yeah." Connor ran a hand through his mess of brown curls and pulled her a distance away from his friend group by the arm. "I think you're cool."

"Thanks?"

Connor nodded, and looked away, his hand moving to rub the back of his neck. "I wanted to ask you if you wanted to go out with me. On a date."

"Oh…" Alia said, her eyes widening. Connor looked at her expectantly and she felt her face heating up. This was not what she was expecting. He was cute enough, in a nerdy sort of way that Alia had always liked. "I don't— I mean—" she swallowed and used all of her brain power to think of a reply. For some reason, she thought of Edward and that steeled her nerves. "Thanks, Connor, but I feel like this is kinda fast. I'm really sorry."

Connor did something that Alia didn't expect. He laughed loudly. It was echoed by his group of friends, who Alia didn't even realise had been listening in. "Oh sorry, that's too good." Connor said mirthfully. "You actually bought it."

"What?" Alia said, dread pooling in her stomach at the way the group of boys were laughing.

Connor patted her on the shoulder. "It was a joke, Alia. I wouldn't actually ask you out." He explained like she was an idiot. "Thanks for being a good sport."

Alia looked to all their faces and swallowed. "Kind of a shitty joke honestly, but I guess if that's the best you can come up with…" she shrugged and walked away from them, trying to keep her pace normal and not too quick and to ignore the next wave of laughter behind her.

She tightened her grip on the strap of her backpack and quickened her pace as soon as she was out of the school doors. Once she was on her solitary walk back to her house, she let the angry tears flow, glad that it had begun to drizzle slightly. Part of her was self-deprecatory, as was her instinct, wondering what else she had expected. The other was righteously angry at the stupidity that boy had shown. Whatever her emotions would settle on, they were strong, so she dumped her bag at home and after a quick word to her dad, made a beeline for the woods where her treehouse awaited.

She couldn't focus on the book she was reading, a history of Egyptian queens, as her thoughts kept wandering to what had happened. The worst part was how she was going to deal with it the next day. Show up to class and pretend nothing had happened? What if he told the joke to everyone and it became an opportunity for everyone to titter behind her back?

Occupied with her thoughts, Alia didn't notice someone climbing up the rope ladder. "Missed me?"

"Oh, Edward." Alia summoned the energy to smile at him brightly. He shook the rain from his bronze hair. He certainly looked like the picture of health, his skin glowing and eyes bright green. She understood why Carlisle and Esme always dragged their kids out. The trips clearly did them a world of good, as if rejuvenating them. "How was your trip?"

"Camping was a _bore_…" his crooked smile fell as he looked at her properly, and Alia worried she looked off. She froze when he reached over and brushed a cool finger over her cheek, wiping the moisture there. "You were crying."

_Shit_. Alia hurriedly wiped the rest of the tears she'd forgotten about and didn't say anything as Edward crouched beside her. She felt his eyes inspect her critically. "What happened?" his voice was grave.

"Nothing really. It's just kind of been a bad day." she forced another smile and the memory of what happened popped into her head again, which she forced away. Edward was here. It didn't matter if other people were cruel. She'd always be able to depend on him. "I don't really want to talk about it, if that's okay." she said quietly.

Edward had an odd look on his face. He almost looked angry, but that didn't make any sense. Alia directed the conversation elsewhere and asked him if he'd be in school tomorrow, which he affirmed, putting her at further ease. Even if she had to deal with laughter tomorrow, it wouldn't be so bad if Edward was there at her side.

They walked back to her house together, where she saw that Edward had parked his car. Naturally, if she wasn't at home, he would have figured she was at the treehouse.

Alia was surprised when he pulled her into his arms when they reached the door. She leaned into his embrace, holding on to the back of his shirt and trying desperately not to cry again. They stayed there for a while, until Alia pulled away. "See you tomorrow." she said softly.

Edward gave her an indecipherable look and walked away quickly, his hands in the pocket of his coat. Alia watched him drive off, faster than normal. Though she was a little puzzled by his behaviour, she let it go and spent the rest of the evening playing Zelda.

The next day dawned, and surprisingly, Edward called her and apologetically told her that he wouldn't be able to give her a ride that morning because of car troubles. She assured him that it was totally okay and that she'd walk, which he accepted after a few more apologies.

She got her mom to call in to tell the school she'd be a half hour late, so it was no problem when she walked in to empty hallways with everyone in class. She decided that skipping the last few minutes of math class wouldn't be the end of the world and loitered by her locker, passing the time with reading and definitely not worrying. When the bell rang for the next class, Alia went to History with a pit in her stomach.

Edward was not there. Nor was Connor, to her relief. She sat down at the seat she normally did, fidgeting with her pencil and keeping an eye on the door with her peripheral vision. She tensed as Connor walked in, and looked to the board, as if very interested in the week's announcements. She saw Connor stop in front of her and reluctantly looked up.

The boy was white as a sheet as he looked at her, shocking Alia out of her nervousness. "Alia, I just wanted to say— to tell you— that I— I'm s— s— sorry for yesterday. It was— st— stupid— and I was a jerk and — I— I'm really sorry."

She could only stare at him, flabbergasted. "It's okay."

"I won't bother you again." He promised, swallowing, before rushing off to his seat.

Not even a minute after that, Edward walked in casually, smiling lazily at Alia. "Sorry for ditching you today. Did you get to school okay?"

"Obviously, as I'm sitting here in one piece." Alia said, still stunned. "Hey, did you…?"

He blinked, the very picture of innocence. "Did I… Did I what?"

It was impossible. She shook her head and grinned at him. "Nothing. Is your car okay?"

Edward tried to hide his smirk as he continued to converse with Alia in the minutes before class. He glanced over to that fool, to see him glance away immediately, terrified.

That morning, Edward had come to school with Emmett and Jasper, an hour early, to catch the boy in his club room. Even without Jasper radiating a terrifying aura that made the boy nearly soil himself and Emmett cracking his knuckles threateningly, the way Edward pinned him to the wall by his collar and furiously demanded he atone for his cruelty had the pathetic idiot sob in agreement and swear to do so and leave Alia alone.

No one who ever brought tears to Alia's eyes would be spared from his wrath.


	14. Chapter 14

makayla. : Thanks! You're so sweet. I hope you continue to read and have fun with this!

overlordred: Thanks darling! My biggest pet peeve is nerd superiority. Seriously, guys like that are everywhere and the worst. I'm at a point where I don't put up with it anymore. I remember a classmate was ranting about how Star Wars was ruined now because there were no white guys to cheer for, and I lost it. Anyways, I hope you like this chapter ;)

You know, I didn't even realise that I passed 20K words. Like, what?! I've never written that much so quickly before! I owe it all to you guys for the support. Honestly, I've written fanfiction before for other things, and this is the nicest fandom I've ever encountered, so thank you so much!

Enjoy this chapter!

...

Alia didn't pay much attention to gossip, but even she couldn't ignore the buzz around the school. There was a new girl moving to their town and school, which was all anyone in the town was talking about.

Inadvertently, Alia knew more about this person than she knew about most of the other students at school. They were a she. Her name was Isabella Swan. She was the divorced chief of police's daughter, switching back to him because of custody or something. She hoped this new girl liked attention, because that was what awaited her at Forks High.

Monday came and so did she. Alia caught a glimpse of the new girl, surrounded by a crowd of popular kids at the centre lunch table who were all eagerly asking her questions. "Poor her." Alia commented to Edward, who glanced over to where she was looking. Isabella looked uncomfortable by all the attention.

"The fuss will blow over." Edward shrugged. "They just really want something new."

Edward was listening in that general direction in the back of his head while he and Alia talked about their next classes. It was his responsibility to make sure that no one noticed anything weird about his family. Oddly, he couldn't hear anything coming from the new girl.

"Who are they?" Ah, and she was asking about his family.

Jessica Stanley, a girl with typical mean, vulgar, teen girl thoughts answered eagerly. _Of course she's already crushing on the Cullens._ "That's Alice Zhao, Emmett Cullen, and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. They all live together with Dr. Cullen and his wife."

"They are... very nice-looking."

"Yes! They're all together though — Emmett and Rosalie, and Jasper and Alice, I mean. And they _live together_."

"Which ones are which? They don't look related..."

"Oh, they're not. Dr. Cullen is really young, in his twenties or early thirties. They're all adopted. Emmett's the black one. Alice is obviously the short Asian. The Hales are the blondes, twins — and they're foster children."

"They look a little old for foster children."

"They are now, Jasper and Rosalie are both eighteen, but they've been with Mrs. Cullen since they were eight. She's their aunt or something like that."

"That's really kind of nice — for them to take care of all those kids like that, when they're so young and everything."

"I guess so." Jessica Stanley said with hesitant agreement. "I think that Mrs. Cullen can't have any kids, though." If only Jessica Stanley knew how right she was.

Edward got bored with the conversation despite his curiosity about why he couldn't read the new girl's mind. This had never happened before, but he figured that there were always odd types of people out there. He only got drawn back in when Jessica Stanley thought of his name loudly as a response to Isabella Swan asking, "Which one is the boy with the reddish brown hair?"

"That's Edward Cullen. He's gorgeous, of course, but don't waste your time."

"And… is that girl with him a Cullen too?"

"Ha!" Jessica laughed contemptuously. "Alia Verma? As if. She's always following Edward around." _Maybe Dr. Cullen is trying to adopt her to continue his collection of ethnics. That's probably why Edward hangs around that loser._

"Then they're…"

"No way. He's totally out of her league." Jessica sniffed, offended at the thought, for it made it the several times Edward rebuffed her advances all the worse. "They're best friends, apparently. But I bet he just lets her hang around to get her to do all his homework."

"Edward? You okay?" Edward's focus snapped back to Alia who was waving a hand in front of his face.

"Sorry," he said. At her expectant gaze, he lied "I'm just a little tired."

_Oh_. Immediately, she was sympathetic. "If you weren't allergic, I'd give you my coffee."

"I'll survive." Edward grinned. "Really."

"I think that has to be the worst of your allergies." Alia said sadly. "No coffee. No tea. No soda. What do you even get to drink?"

Edward managed to keep his face straight. "Just normal fluids, I guess."

Alia nodded, unaware of the mirth he felt, and looked over again at the centre table. _They keep looking over here. No surprise, I guess._ Of course, Alia would notice the two girls unsubtly talking and looking over at Edward and Alia's table. _Makes sense she's interested. _Alia thought, glancing at Edward quickly. _She's pretty too._ That thought was made wistfully before she cleared it and ignored the girls.

Edward wished he could tell her that she was radiant, but had to hold himself back, as he always did. Noticing his eyes on her, Alia smiled unknowingly and he smiled back. They forgot all about the new drama at school and resumed their lunch.

When the bell rang, Alia drained her coffee with scrunched up face. For all that she professed to loving it, she hated the bitter taste, but insisted on drinking it black for the full effect. In some ways, Edward was grateful. The lingering coffee lessened the potency of her rich, tantalising scent, easing him on days like that Monday when his thirst was particularly bad.

Alia was grumbling about Biology all the way to class. When they sat down, Alia double checked the homework she'd done haphazardly the night before, and shrugged, leaving it on the corner of the desk for Dr. Banner (dubbed 'the Hulk' by Alia) to collect.

Everything went to hell when Isabella Swan walked into the classroom and stepped in front of the heater, wafting her scent towards Edward.

Alia noticed him stiffen immediately, but didn't make the connection to the girl being directed to sit in the one empty seat a few desks behind them. The Hulk began lecturing, but Edward could only try to control the monstrous thirst that rose in him. All he wanted was to devour Isabella Swan, damn the consequences. But then he'd have to kill all the witnesses. All except for Alia, whom he would never kill but instead doom to something worse. He'd have to turn her while she stared horrified, at the murders he had just committed. It was that thought that stopped him from lunging back towards the new girl with the heroin-like blood.

"Edward." Alia put a hand on his forearm, to which he directed his gaze onto her. He saw his face reflected in her dark brown eyes, his expression unhinged and feral, the beast that he'd been trying for so long to keep hidden away. Alia didn't recoil, but he did, clenching his hands into fists on the desk. "Are you okay?"

"Am I boring you, Miss Verma?" their teacher asked dryly, pausing his lecture to look to the two of them in the front row.

"Um… Edward is sick, Mr. Banner." Alia said. "Can I take him to the nurse?"

The Hulk frowned and looked at Edward. _Mr. Perfect actually gets sick? Yeah right. Well, whatever._ "Alright, then. See him there and be back in ten minutes, Miss Verma."

"Thank you." Alia said, getting up and blushing at the attention on them.

Edward couldn't trust himself to speak and followed after her in the most normal pace he could manage, making his way to the nearest locker and resting his head against it. "Shit. _Shit_. Edward, what's wrong? Talk to me, please." Alia was hovering around him, panicking.

He finally took a breath in, free from the demonic scent, and able to think clearly once more. "I'm fine now."

"Like hell you are." Alia said. "To the nurse, come on."

"No need. I'm going home." At the look on her face, he snapped. "My father's a doctor. I'll be fine!"

She swallowed, and he immediately regretted his tone. "Okay. If you think that's best. Do you… want me to come with you?"

Edward put a hand on her warm head. "Thank you, but I should go alone. I'll see you, okay."

Alia watched him go with worry gnawing at her. He had looked tired before, but in class he looked like he was in really bad pain, like her whenever she was on the worst day of her period but amplified. Still, Carlisle would take care of him. She'd have to trust in that. She went back to class and muddled her way through.

When she got out of class, she was surprised to see Emmett, Jasper, and Alice waiting for her. Alice linked arms with her. "Edward told us you need a ride."

"You talked to him? Is he okay?"

The three of them exchanged looks that had Alia worried. That worry lessened somehow when Emmett grinned at her. "He's made of pretty tough stuff, kid. He'll be okay."

"But what's wrong with him?"

"He hasn't been feeling well lately." Alice said as they walked.

"Can I see him?"

There was another moment of silence after that. "He's going to Alaska." Alice finally said with a bright smile. "For a little bit to visit family and rest."

Right. Edward had mentioned the family that the Cullens had in Alaska. Still, Alia worried. He was fine during lunch for the most part. What if he got worse and worse? She hated that she couldn't do anything to help and had to leave it up to chance.

This worried mood plagued her for the drive back to her house. Though Alice and Emmett's chatter in the car almost managed to distract her, it was Jasper that she appreciated the most. He was quiet, as he usually was, but his presence made her feel like he understood her worry.

Edward was gone for the next few days. Alice and Jasper sat with Alia at lunch, and tried to act normal, but it wasn't the same without Edward. Then, there was the matter of Biology class…

It was one of the classes Alia didn't have with Alice. Therefore, the Hulk assigned the new girl, Isabella Swan to be her lab partner. Alia waved at her awkwardly when she came to sit next to her in Edward's seat. "I actually did the reading for today, so we should be okay." she joked.

"That's good to hear." Isabella said with a small smile. They began working on that day's lab.

Alia noticed up close that she was really pale. Like, near pasty. "You're probably tired of hearing this, but you're from Arizona, right Isabella?"

"Bella." A brief flicker of resignation crossed her face. "Yeah. I know I don't look like it."

Alia felt bad for asking, immediately. Bella didn't say anything else, so she asked, "Um, are you liking Forks?"

The girl beside her was quiet for a moment. "It's nice to be with my dad. The weather though..." she sighed, looking out at the pouring rain with a melancholic expression on her face. Alia realised that she had never seen someone look so homesick before.

"I guess it's different from what you're used to, huh." Alia said, also turning to look at the rain. "Even though it sucks at first, I think it's worth it. The smell of the rain is just incredible. And you'll never find such awesome wildlife anywhere else in the world except for like Canada and New Zealand. We technically live in a rainforest, a temperate one that is. And… I'm probably boring you, sorry." Alia laughed sheepishly. Bella was looking at her with wide eyes. They were a really pretty shade of brown, much lighter than Alia's own. "My point is that the rain can be as great as the sun if you take the time to appreciate it."

"You're not boring me." Bella said sincerely. "I just… hadn't thought about it like that."

They worked silently for the next half an hour. Alia was a little annoyed that Bella was easily doing the lab work and didn't want to come across like an idiot, so she made sure to do the work more carefully than normal so it wouldn't look like she wasn't depending on her.

When the lab was handed in, Alia was surprised when Bella initiated conversation. "I noticed your friend isn't here." This was the most interested Bella had looked all class. "Is he okay?"

And now Alia was missing Edward again. "Edward's fine. Just resting for a few days."

Bella nodded, but still looked deep in thought. She glanced over at Alia curiously. "How long have you been friends?"

She supposed it made sense that Bella would want to talk about something interesting instead of the weak smalltalk and philosophical ramblings Alia had started off with. She still couldn't help but be a bit disappointed, though. She thought about the question for a moment. "Hmm, about two years now? It started over a book."

"Which one?"

"Wuthering Heights."

Bella's face lit up in understanding. "So you both liked it and bonded that way?"

Alia couldn't help but laugh. At Bella's confused look, she clarified. "Oh, God no. I argued against him in class, because his opinion was pretty stupid, honestly. So stupid that I actually got angry and spoke up for the first time. I guess I made an impression so we started hanging out after that."

Reflecting on it, she wondered if it was pity that drew Edward to talking to her. She liked to think it was respect for her opinion, but knew deep down it was probably the former. She still distinctly remembered the way the rest of the class had laughed at her. If it weren't for Edward validating her point afterwards, she probably never would have spoken up in class again.

"It sounds like you two are close." Bella said with a soft, wistful smile.

"I guess we are." Alia said.

They sat in silence for the rest of the class, and Alia was grateful that Bella had no more questions about Edward. When the bell rang, Bella was the first to go, after offering Alia a smile.

Over the next few days, Alia almost got used to Bella Swan as a lab partner. They also had the same English class, but sat a ways apart. She seemed nice enough and Alia noticed that she grew more comfortable with the new school once the attention began to fade from her.

However, when Edward came back on Friday, showing up in front of her house instead of his siblings, Alia couldn't hide her relief and her worry as she hugged him tightly. "You piece of shit!"

"I missed you too." Edward was grinning when she drew back. He looked much better, with a slight glow to his skin and flush to his cheeks. "Tell me what I missed and I'll tell you about my trip."

Alia wished the car ride was two hours longer so they could both get their fill of conversation. But there'd be time enough for that. Edward was okay, dispelling her worst fears of terrible terminal illnesses and him collapsing in the Alaskan snow.

Edward too, after a few days of reflection and properly sating his thirst, walked into Biology fully prepared for the scent of his siren.

He thought of Carlisle, his father, who would always believe in him no matter how low he fell. Edward wanted to be like him, to maintain his morality despite the curse he was under. He thought of the rest of his family, all comfortable and safe in Forks, and how a mistake from him would uproot them all again and tear a rift in their relationship. He thought of Alia, and their stupidly normal friendship. The lure of blood hadn't managed to corrupt their relationship so far, and he wouldn't let it do so now. He maintained these thoughts as the scent made its way to him.

He didn't lose control.

He breathed in slowly, still being hit by the full effect of Bella Swan's scent, but maintaining the rational part of his mind. He couldn't help but sigh in relief. It would be possible, then, to retain whatever humanity he had left.

Looking at Alia, as she talked eagerly, he couldn't help but smile, feeling the burden from the past week rise from his shoulders ever so slightly.

Yes, it would all be worth it, wouldn't it.

...

Oof, bet you weren't expecting this, huh.

I'm not a fan of Bella bashing. She is what she is. I just didn't want it to feel like Edward and Alia are a thing either because Bella doesn't exist or because Bella is secretly a terrible evil bitch. She's not going to feature much in this story from here on. And you don't have to worry about Edward becoming weirdly obsessed with her for no reason, or her being an 'accident magnet' (meaning no almost car crash or attempted rape). She's just normal here, doing her own thing.


	15. Chapter 15

I'm glad you all liked the last chapter. I was nervous about how it'd be received. This one's continuing in the same direction, kind of.

MillieBelle: Yup, I was inspired by Catherine Hardwicke's original idea to make Alice Japanese.

overlordred: hehe, yup I'm glad you caught that detail, that Alia wasn't in any physical danger. She was just in danger of being emotionally scarred.

marlastiano: lots of love for you and your constant support :3

FriendlyNeighborhoodHufflepuff: Thank you!

makayla. : oof, that's true. Honestly, I feel like it's inevitable for me to reduce some characters to their tropes because this is a fanfiction focusing on what I want to, but I'm trying my best.

MysticEm: That's the thing about Twilight, ain't it? Everyone is more interesting than Bella, which makes the series so much wasted potential. And boy... do I have stuff in store.

Enjoy, everyone!

...

"Alia, we need to talk."

"What's up?"

Edward looked at her at the entry to 'their' treehouse, trying to think of the best way to put it that would have his stubborn human actually listen to him. "Have you heard about the recent bear attacks?"

Alia glanced up from her book. "Kind of. Why?"

Edward sat down next to her. "Carlisle was called to examine the body. It was bad. Really bad."

"Poor guy." Alia remarked, still not getting at what he was trying to say.

"Alia. Could you stay indoors for a little while, until it all blows over?"

"But it's April! The weather's just starting to get nice, and the wildflowers I planted by the mountain bench we made must be starting to grow."

"Alia…" Edward had grabbed her hand, silencing her. "I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important. Please, can we avoid the woods just until they catch whatever it is."

Alia's head whirred with thoughts as she considered his request, looking to their connected hands. "If it's that important to you, okay." _I mean, maybe I could help the park rangers. I know the woods pretty well and I have bear spray… Actually, maybe not. Edward would probably have a heart attack._

Edward couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Of course, he couldn't tell her the true culprit behind these attacks, others of his kind that were not so friendly to humans. He would not risk her falling into the path of these nomadic vampires.

For insurance, while the Cullens waited for the nomads to show themselves so they could ask them to leave, Edward played his best cards to keep Alia indoors.

"You got a Wii?!" she gasped, to see the set up in his room. "And you got the new Zelda and Mario games too?"

"You got me intrigued." Edward grinned, watching her fawn over the system. "Want to borrow it?"

Alia was tempted, but she frowned at Edward. "But you just got it!"

"I've already made a dent in the Zelda." he said, honestly, having played through it the previous night for credibility. "I actually wanted to play the handheld version first and was hoping we could trade."

Alia looked from him to the system, then back to him. "Deal!"

It was a roundabout way to do it, but he knew that Alia would not accept the gift of a game system outright since it wasn't a special occasion. Truly, he wasn't very invested in games, but made a show of it in this case so that she would have an excuse to want to stay indoors for a few weeks.

It worked incredibly. Alia, though occasionally tempted, chose to remain indoors whenever she and Edward weren't hanging out to play through the new games. This left Edward at peace, when he had to leave for a hunt or on a sunny day.

The issue with the nomads came to a head one day, during a thunderstorm.

His family, as they did on the rare occasion of thunderstorms, ventured out into a clearing to play baseball, using the noise of the thunder to disguise the thunderous sound of when they clashed with each other during the usually friendly games.

Emmett, Jasper, and Rosalie were arguing with Esme's verdict on the last run while Alice and Edward were gloating. In the middle of laughing at Jasper, Alice froze. It wasn't her reaction that stopped everyone in their tracks, but Edward's, who rushed to her side and glared at the distance. "The nomads, they're coming." Alice said in a rush. "They heard us playing and changed their course."

"It's alright." Carlisle said, putting a hand on the small of Esme's back. "Let's hear what they have to say."

"How far away are they?"

"Five minutes. They're running." Edward answered with a grimace.

"It's about time we told them off." Rosalie huffed, her mood soured by the interruption to their game. "They've been drawing too much attention."

"Guess that means we win?" Emmett tried.

"You wish." Alice pushed at his chest playfully.

As the thunder cracked above their heads, the three nomads emerged from the trees, their states wild from months on the road. Carlisle stepped forth to greet their leader, with Emmett and Jasper flanking him to assert his authority. Edward lingered behind, with Esme, to read every slight shift in their thoughts.

Carlisle was diplomatic as usual. Their leader, Laurent, returned his polite tone, expressing a few of the many questions that ran in his head about these strange domestic looking vampires. While they talked, Edward found his attention drawn to the most dangerous of the three, the other man, James, who was growing restless by the pause.

Everything was well and good, with Jasper radiating a calming presence, Carlisle expertly explaining their family's diet, and Laurent promising that his coven was moving on, when the wind shifted. James crouched forward with a feral grin directed at Edward. "If you don't hunt humans, why do you have that scent on you?"

They all realised it that the same time that Edward did, that the scent they had all grown used to lingering around them and their house, warm and honeyed, was plastered all over Edward. He was wearing the coat when she hugged him, he realised with horror, only the other day.

Carlisle smiled placatingly. "We live amongst humans, working and going to school with them. It's only natural that the scent lingers."

They accepted that answer. James closed his eyes, taking in the scent. "I'll have to hunt that one down. I haven't smelled prey that good in years."

_Edward, don't!_ Carlisle and Esme thought futilely.

He ignored them and growled, shifting his posture to a more threatening one, feeling nothing but fury at the words and thoughts of the vampire threatening the one dear to him.

"We mean no harm." Laurent said, raising his hands, looking from James to Edward, who both looked ready to pounce. "We promised not to hunt here." He reminded James. _Is it worth it, fool?_

It was Jasper that saved the day, prompting Edward into a state of calm that had him reassess what he had just done and implied with his behavior. Edward forced himself to back off. "We've worked too hard to establish ourselves here." he spat out in a deadpan voice, as if that was all James was threatening with his interest. "All we ask is that you hunt somewhere else."

"Let's just go." the woman, Victoria said, bored with the tension in the air. "We shouldn't have stopped."

It snapped James out of his brief frenzy, and he blinked, as if awoken. And he was bored again. "Fine."

If Edward had not deflected in time, then the vampire, _the tracker_, he realised with horror as he reviewed how his mind had worked, would have latched onto the scent and pursued it, with only death stopping him. Edward would have made this the most exciting hunt of his life.

He hardly listened as Carlisle and Laurent exchanged more pleasantries. As soon as the nomads were running off, back on their original trajectory, Edward was off in a furious sprint. _Fool. Moron. Imbecile._ He kept throwing insults at himself as he ran.

Before he knew it, he was in front of a house hidden by hedges. Alia's house. He stood by the hedge, still as the statue he was, until he heard her thoughts. He felt his nonexistent heartbeat slow down as he heard her _safe_, playing the game he'd leant her. _Ah, Link is so cute. Damn it, the controls on this level are so bad. Ooh, I didn't expect that. Hehe, oh, Link, you're so dreamy. Ah fuck, I died?! This shit is rigged!... Whoo, I did it!_

An hour into his vigil, Alia decided to go to sleep, falling into her bed with sweet dreams of rainy forests and adventures in the skies. Edward stood there for hours, still, until someone stepped beside him in the dawn light. "They're gone, Edward."

Edward didn't turn to look at his father. "I almost killed her."

If it were anyone else, they would have denied it. They would have said, '_No_. It wasn't that bad. We could have totally killed that tracker and his friends, and then gone back to normal!' If it were Rosalie, she would have said, 'Yeah idiot. I told you so.'

Carlisle instead, put his hand on Edward's shoulder. _It's alright, son_. _I'm here._

If Edward could cry, he would have at that moment. Instead, he let Carlisle convince him to come home after sparing one last glance back at the silhouette of Alia's house.

_I am nothing but trouble for her_.

...

So I condensed the entire plot of Twilight in about 4500 words with the last chapter and this one, lol. I thought about dragging this out, by making Alia an actual target and making it super dramatic and angsty, but then I realised that my version of the characters have some braincells, and wouldn't act in the way they did in the original text.


	16. Chapter 16

Howdy! This is a short one, but important I think to show the other side.

makayla. : will she? Hm, I don't know... heh

MysticEm: I had never thought about that pairing, and gosh that'd be fun. The truth is, I totally forgot about involving the wolves because of how much I focus on the vampires. Maybe in the future, I'll throw something in!

marlastiano: They are definitely different, aha. Edward can be an idiot, but at least he has people around him with braincells.

Guest 1: Thank you, I appreciate it! :)

overlordred: Whoo! All I will tell you is to hang in there, buddy. Let's see where this goes.

TheLadyO: Here I am!

Guest 2: Hoo boy! That's kind of the entire point? Though, horrible's kind of a strong word, lol. There's no way to start this relationship with them being equals because you know, immortal vampire and all. It's totally your right to find it to be too much though. I'm actually very happy that you caught that the biggest issue in this relationship isn't that Edward is a bloodsucking vampire, but that he's a mind reader. That is what I was going for, not that I expect you to stick around based on your tone, haha.

Thanks all for your feedback. I thrive off of it. Enjoy this short chapter and hopefully I have time tomorrow to write cause I have a day off. Whoo!

...

The thought occurred to Alia in the early hours of the morning when she couldn't sleep. She shot up, shocked awake at the sudden realisation. She turned on her lamp and went straight to her desk, where she began furiously writing in her journal, the black ink a blur on the pages:

_I think I'm in love with Edward._

_Why am I surprised? I mean, part of me has loved him since I saw him. That shallow, childish part of me. That lonely part of me that saw a beautiful boy within reach and immediately began fantasising about being important to him, of him singling me out and seeing worth that no one else ever had._

_What happened next was a shock. I did become important to him. He did see the worth in me. He drew me out of my shell and made me a better person. _

_A different part of me resents how much I owe to Edward. If he hadn't befriended me, would I have remained a ghost, drifting along, trying to minimise my presence in the world? I'd like to think I owe myself a little more, that I always had the potential to be who I am now, and could have found it on my own. But I can't deny that it was his support that gave me the courage to flourish. _

_But is that why I love him? Because he helped me out? No, I don't think so. In my naive opinion, I think that love is a lot more than what the other person can offer you. That would be selfish, wouldn't it? That wouldn't be love. I think love is more than the aesthetic, more than greedy exchange. _

_It's in the little things about him._

_His brilliance in every subject he approaches. The way he quite smugly approaches every situation as if he has secret knowledge no one else has. The way in which new knowledge renders him awestruck. _

_The poetic passion he has for music, the confidence in his pianist fingers. I don't know what it was like to witness those old virtuosos from centuries ago, but watching Edward play the piano so effortlessly renders me speechless. There's something beautiful in how he plays for himself, for his own love for the sound, how he loses himself in his art. _

_The gentleness he consciously puts into every action. He moves and speaks gracefully, but it's more than that. He is so aware of everything. I would say calculating, but that word implies a certain coldness that just isn't there no matter how he tries to act like it sometimes. _

_The sarcasm. The wry humour that always puts a stupid smile on my face. Shame on me for ever thinking him serious and stiff. He always knows exactly what to say to make me either groan or to reduce me to fight a fit of laughter. _

_His thoughtfulness which goes both ways, causing him to remember everything important to me, even while remembering perfectly any flaws in my arguments to use against me when he feels like arguing. I think I even love his pettiness, at least when I have time to cool down after said arguments. _

_Even the melancholy that sometimes surrounds him like a cloud draws my affection. It makes me want to protect him despite the fact that I don't understand what causes it. Sometimes he acts like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders even though he's a boy like any other. _

_A boy like any other. I think that's what's doing it in for me as I reflect on this now. Edward seemed surreal at first, this alien perfection masquerading as a human being. But he's so human it hurts. Multifaceted and flawed like any other. Certainly like me. The more I realise how real he is, a physical being that I can reach out and touch, hold close to me, the deeper I fall. _

_And yet, I am overcome with doubt. I tried to justify my love just now by listing out the things I like about him. But I liked those things as his friend too. Where did love come into this? Can I even try to define love? I don't think so, but it's comforting to try. I'll stop trying to think about 'how' or 'why' and just accept this as something that 'is'._

_But what am I going to do with this revelation? Tell him? _

_Of course not. _

_This is a secret for the recesses of my mind and the pages of this journal. I love him, but am content to express that love for him as my friend. I know he loves me in that way too, so why would I want to ruin our relationship by making him uncomfortable with my feelings? _

_I know I shouldn't think this, but it's the truth. He is out of my league. He deserves someone as beautiful and brilliant as he is, and I'm just not that. I'm good enough to be his friend, nothing more. I will express my love through selflessness. As long as I can stay near him, I'll be happy. _

_Still, it feels good to write. I love him. I love Edward. _

Alia left it at that, feeling a few tears gather in her eyes that she blinked away. She forced a smile on her face and shook her head. She put the journal back on her shelf, and then crawled back into bed, staring up at her ceiling with the glow in the dark stickers meant to replicate the night sky. Now that her thoughts were on paper, she could stop worrying about it and go back to the way things were.

After all, Edward deserved so much more than her immature feelings.


	17. Chapter 17

Wow, thank you all so much for your reviews!

makayla. : I'm glad you're not okay! Just kidding, thanks so much!

FriendlyNeighborhoodHufflepuff: I KNOW! Our girl has self esteem problems.

Gilyflower: :D

jingerr: Thank you! And a happy late Valentines to you too!

Guest: Wow, thanks for coming back. First, I guess their relationship is never going to please you that's okay. I acknowledge that in real life, mind reading would count as emotional abuse, but this isn't real life. It's fiction, aka, a place for me to explore these things in a safe space. I stated in the first chapter that this is for fun, so I don't care too much about the real world implications. If it's too much for you, cool, I however am fine with mind reading as a concept considering there's no malicious intent behind it.

Also, I made Alia's journal entry eloquent on purpose. Sorry if that was a miss. That's just the way I journal, with a lot of thought behind crafting sentences, so that's how I made hers. The idea is that Alia's thoughts flow much better on the page than in her head. I didn't think it'd be too unbelievable for Alia to be a good writer. :)

overlordred: baby, you could never be pushy! I love hearing that you want more!

Littlecosma001: Thank you so much. I'm sorry I made you sad, but also I'm glad cause that's what I was going for, aha.

TheLadyO: And you've just gotten more, babe, and it's longer!

writhing: Thank you! I'm really touched by your comment. That is exactly how I feel about OC fiction, where all the OCs are always the whitest, which was really alienating. It's bad enough fiction is like that, but you'd think fanfiction would have more variety. Also, the Quileute stuff makes me so uncomfortable that I want to almost pretend it doesn't exist!

So enjoy this. The next one will be out soon, I hope!

...

Alia _adored_ their new twelfth grade English teacher.

Ms. MacLean wasn't _new_ by any means. She had been teaching at Forks High for six years now, after moving back to her hometown following a messy divorce to take care of her ailing mother. She was new to Alia, however, who had been stuck with Duval for the past four years in a row.

And what a difference a competent teacher made. At first, when doing grammar and essay writing for the first two weeks of the class, things were normal. If anything, Alia was annoyed by the meticulousness in which Ms. MacLean displayed in checking the technical parts of their writing. She normally just went with what felt right when she wrote and thinking about rules was just plain frustrating.

She changed her tune when the novel study began, and Ms. MacLean introduced Wuthering Heights to the classroom. The class had groaned at first, Alia and Edward included. They'd already done Wuthering Heights in Duval's class, and weren't interested in a month of repetition. Edward complained that he'd read the damn book at least a dozen times, and Alia swore that if she had to listen to how sad poor Heathcliff's life was one more time, she'd tear her hair out.

But, Ms. MacLean wasn't interested in the characters as if they were real people. No, she emphasised the context, Bronte's life, the feeling of the supernatural Gothic, the _themes_. It was all quite revolutionary for Alia.

When they spoke of the Earnshaws and Lintons, she explained class relations and the declining English nobility. When they mentioned Catherine's decision to marry Edgar, she brought up the ways in which marriage worked for women in the 19th century, bringing some validity to what people normally saw as a rash and cruel action.

The best part for Alia was that Ms. MacLean encouraged her to speak. She encouraged everyone really, but Alia was the most eager to jump at the chance to show her passion. Never before had a teacher encouraged her to think in critical, different ways.

Ms. MacLean also ended up sparking another literary argument between Alia and Edward.

In their class, their teacher hosted debates whenever a contentious topic came up, giving them a day to prepare (and for those who wanted to skip ample warning to do so). The debate of that day was regarding the idea of nature versus nurture in the text and what Bronte was advocating for. Sides were assigned and Edward and Alia were on opposite sides.

It just so happened that Alia got the side she agreed with, something she could feel Edward glowering at her over.

"The very existence of Heathcliff's character is proof that Bronte has biased views of individuals from certain backgrounds." Edward said coolly. To an outsider, he may have looked bored, but Alia could see the smirk playing at his lips. "No matter what he did or how he was raised, he was doomed to fall into the role nature created for him."

Angela Weber spoke up before Alia could. "But then, how do you explain Hareton, and how Heathcliff tried to ruin his life?"

"Simple." Edward continued. "The key word there is 'tried'. Heathcliff couldn't suppress Hareton's true nature, which was one of goodness, no matter how he tried to nurture it otherwise."

Angela opened her mouth, then closed it, looking down at the desk with flushed cheeks.

"I refuse to believe that Bronte isn't holding Heathcliff accountable for his actions." Alia said hotly. "If she really blamed nature for the way he turned out, then she wouldn't have him be so conflicted—"

"And purely make Heathcliff an antagonist, yes." Edward said dismissively. "But you're speculating."

"Ooh, Edward, you shouldn't interrupt." Alice spoke up, seated beside Alia. This was her first contribution to the debate.

"Yeah!" Alia said passionately as Edward glared at his sister. "Also, how d'you explain Catherine? Is she inherently good or bad? It seems a lot more like she acts based on the way she was raised."

"Right." Angela nodded eagerly. "Catherine changes after she stays with the Lintons and is nurtured by them."

"But Catherine's inherit nature is the same as Heathcliff's no matter where she goes." Edward and Alia both turned, surprised to see Bella Swan speak up from beside Edward. She blushed at the attention, but continued. "_Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same_" she quoted. "That's what Catherine says, at least."

Edward nodded, but seemed taken aback by that idea. Alia didn't let it go to waste. "Is Catherine's voice Bronte's? What if Catherine and Heathcliff were _nurtured_ to be so dependent on each other!? With Hindley being a total as—" Alia cut herself off with a cough, eyeing an attentive Ms. MacLean, "I mean a bad role model and abuser, what other choice did they have except to latch on to each other? They're similar because of the way they were nurtured!"

The debate raged on for another fifteen minutes, with Edward and Alia doing the brunt of the arguing and growing more and more heated. It was only when Ms. MacLean stepped in, that they were forced to stop. "There's no right answer to this question." she said with a smile as they moved the desks back to their normal positions. "Can anyone tell me why I made you debate it anyway?

"To show that the issue is nuanced." Edward said automatically, rolling his eyes. Alia stuck her middle finger up at him under the table where their teacher couldn't see.

"Right you are." Ms. MacLean said, moving a strand of graying hair behind an ear. "Now, your assignment will be to synthesise the two sides…" she detailed the work, which they all wrote down, before the bell rang.

Alice waved at them before gracefully skipping out of the class ahead of everyone else. Alia still had all her books strewn out across her, so she began to clean up.

"I'm sure if you nurture a murderer well enough, they'll change their ways." Edward muttered as he began to put his stuff into his bag.

"Some people are bad, sure. But that has to do with how they were raised." Alia argued back, getting up.

Edward was grinning down at her as they spoke, with one hand on the desk. Alia also didn't back off and squared her shoulders against him. "Trust me, Alia." he leaned down to whisper in her ear. "There are some who are damned by nature, no matter what choices they make."

"Joke's on you." Alia said back, trying not to notice how close he was. "I'm an atheist."

He smirked at that and shook his head. A strand of hair fell over his forehead, and Alia wanted nothing more than to move it back into place. She breathed a sigh of relief when he did it himself. "Well, are we going?" she asked lightly, indicating to the rest of the class clearing out. "Or do you wanna debate some more?"

Edward rolled his eyes again and moved for the door, with Alia following behind. "I think I'm done for today. I do agree that Bronte's on the fence about the issue."

"I knew it." she narrowed her eyes. "You were just arguing for the sake of arguing, you prick."

He only blinked innocently and put a hand to his chest. "Did you want me to get a bad mark on the debate? I'm wounded."

_I'll wound you, you competitive ass. _They passed by Bella and Angela, with Alia giving a small wave. It was nice that the new girl had settled into a comfortable place with her group of friends. Her and Angela seemed particularly close.

The next week, they handed their essays in, and the semester continued. Alia was surprised when Ms. MacLean asked her to stay behind one class. This was normal. She had been meeting with all her students and checking in on them and discussing their progress. Still, Alia found herself fidgeting with nerves. She relaxed when the older woman smiled. "How are you doing?"

"Oh, good." Alia smiled back, feeling instantly better. "Thanks for asking. How are you?"

They made small talk for a little bit, talking about the sudden snow, and the calm since the bear attacks had stopped, before Ms. MacLean directed them to business.

"I wanted to discuss your essay." Before Alia could fear, Ms. MacLean handed her the essay with an A+ on the front page. "I'm really impressed with your work. I hope you keep it up."

"Wow." Alia took the essay, flipping through it and hardly believing the mark. There were several marks in red for grammatical errors she had made, but somehow the content had warranted her that mark. She had never gotten such a high grade before.

"I was wondering, Alia… what were you planning to do after high school?"

There was the question that all their teachers had begun to hint at. Alia looked down at her lap. "I don't really know. I think I want to go to college."

Ms. MacLean smiled at her again. "You seem really passionate about literature. Were you thinking of majoring in it if you do decide on college?"

Alia couldn't help her enthusiastic nod. "Yeah, I can't imagine doing anything else. It sounds like a dream to read books all day and talk about them." she deflated slightly, remembering reality. "But there are no jobs in it, so..."

"Nonsense." Ms. MacLean waved her hand. "I have a job, and my major was literature. The reality is that a lot of people in the field go towards teaching, but there are other options: editing, publishing, technical writing, I could go on." Alia couldn't help but note that she couldn't think of anything else besides what her teacher had just listed. "And if you choose to pursue teaching, you can go anywhere in the world. There's always a demand for English teachers. I've taught all over Asia." she said proudly.

"I think teaching could be fun, actually." Alia admitted, entertaining the thought for the first time. Sure, talking in front of a group of kids sounded terrifying for her anxiety, but the summers off would give her time to read and write. And the idea of travelling was also amazing.

"You don't have to decide yet." Ms. MacLean said. "But if you're interested, I'm an alumni at the University of Oregon, and would be happy to write you a letter of recommendation if you apply there. Their literature program is amazing, and the professors in my time made me who I am."

The discussion of colleges and literature programs lasted for most of the lunch hour before Alia remembered she needed to eat. She walked away from that meeting with an A+, a handful of pamphlets, and a head full of possibilities.

The future was creeping up faster than she would like. The twelfth grade was well under way and Alia had felt it most strongly in that Rosalie, Jasper, and Emmett weren't in school anymore, having graduated last June. During that ceremony, which she attended with Edward, she had been struck with the realisation that she only had a year left.

She had tentatively begun to look at college programs and draft together applications. But after talking to Ms. MacLean, she felt a sense of clarity that she hadn't before. Yes, she did want to continue studying literature, to try her hand at the challenges of college to the best of her ability.

And maybe... it didn't have to be so scary.


	18. Chapter 18

That took fucking forever to write. I'm so sorry for the delay. This all came from this chapter being long, me being anxious from work, and writer's block. My groove is kinda broken now, but I want to continue writing this before I get distracted again.

paulavara140: Thank you so much!

TheLadyO: As of now, I have diverged from Twilight. The bit with Bella and James was my nod to the plot. This is technically the time of Eclipse now? With them in twelfth grade.

DxGRAYxMAN: All I will say is lol

overlordred: I'm happy you're here too! Let me tell you, I LOVE Florence, and I see you quoting No Choir! Never Let Me Go is SOO good for them. T_T

Gabbstterr: Thank you! Keep reading and you'll see ;)

FriendlyNeighborhoodHufflepuff: Yes he does! Thanks for laughing at my joke!

Ochideus.C: Thank you! I'm glad you like what I've done. And never apologise for your English, it's a stupid language.

KinnleyBrynn: Well here you go, boo!

Enjoy more fluff!

...

Edward was stuck one day, when he saw Alia staring at a poster advertising the year's fall senior dance. _I kind of wish I could go_… she thought wistfully. _Nah, I'd look ridiculous. _

She wanted to go to the dance. This was the first time he'd seen her express interest in that sort of event. For the years he'd known her, Alia had always scoffed at the idea of going to any school function, let alone the dances available to the various grades. Besides being shy, she had never wanted to go through the fuss of dressing up.

He could only look at her contemplatively throughout their biology class. So what had changed? Was she realising that this was her last chance to experience a high school dance? Forks only had one event exclusively for seniors, the spring dance being reserved for everyone else.

At Alia's house later that day, as they were playing video games, Edward broached the topic. "So… the dance is coming up."

Alia didn't look up from the TV screen. "Yeah, and…?

"Were you thinking of going this year?"

She snorted. "No way. It's totally not my thing."

"Why not?" Edward pushed, watching her frown.

"I don't know. I'm just not interested. There are better things to do." She said stubbornly, going back to their game with vigour. Ah, so she was lying to herself while lying to him then. She wanted to go, but didn't want him to think she wanted to go. Why?

He had never stopped pushing before, and it wasn't going to stop him now. Before he could pose a question, his phone rang. He picked it up with one hand, the other on the controller, still effortlessly winning the match they were playing. "What do you want, Alice?"

"Heya Edward. So I just called you to stop you from doing something potentially stupid, cause I'm just amazing like that."

"What do you mean?" Edward said coolly. Alia glanced over curiously, but he kept his expression neutral.

"You were about to ask Alia to go to the dance with you."

"... And…?"

"Boys…" he heard her scoff. "She would have taken it the wrong way. Trust me. Unless you actually want her to think you're asking her out?"

His gaze fell to Alia again, who was fully invested in the match, too invested to notice the strands of hair falling into her eyes. Since they were at her house, she was wearing the thick, square glasses she'd had since she was a child. She was less and less of a child every day now, even if remnants of that childhood remained.

Edward pictured it for a moment. He would confess his feelings and truly ask her to go to this dance, rendering the inconsequential high school event into something important for the both of them. He continued to entertain the fantasy… the two of dancing alone under the moonlight. He'd be dressed in black, and she in white; no other color would compliment her brown skin as well. She'd be a terrible dancer, of course, never having done it before, so it would be up to him to lead, holding her close, bearing witness to her shy smiles and flushed cheeks. He'd say something to make her laugh, then steal a kiss like a thief in the night.

He forced himself to dispel the image. "I don't." he answered Alice's question.

"Uh-huh." He could hear the skepticism in Alice's voice. "Okay, then. So she wants to go… but needs a little push. Leave it to me."

Before he could argue with the hurricane he called a sister, she hung up. "Everything okay?" Alia asked.

"As okay as it can be with Alice." he grumbled.

_For someone who won six games in a row, you'd think he'd be more cheerful._ She thought as the score flashed across the screen. _Gotta keep trying!_

"Maybe you'd do better if you picked an easier kart to handle." Edward smirked, as they went to the selection screen once more.

She gave an offended gasp. "Maybe _you _need to mind your own business."

They were off once more in another match. Edward didn't need to worry for too long about what Alice had planned, as her thoughts made it clear as soon as he went home. Seeing as that plan worked, he only sighed and left it alone giving her one warning to not go too overboard, before going to coax music from his piano for the night.

Alia however, was in for a shock the next morning as she heard a car pull up in her driveway. She looked out her window to see Alice spring out from her bright yellow Volkswagen Beetle. She waved when she saw Alia. Alia waved back and quickly changed out of her duck patterned pajamas before running down the stairs to get the door.

Alice grinned at her with sparkling teeth. "Are you free today?"

"Yeah…?" Alia said, suspicious despite herself. "Come in."

Alice came in and made herself at home, plopping herself down on the orange couch in the living room. "Well, first I should tell you, I really need a favor."

"I wanna hear what it is before agreeing to it." Alia said, remembering last time.

"Fair enough. Well... I want you to go to the dance with me." At the baffled look on Alia's face, she held up a finger. "Let me explain! The principal's really strict about students outside of school coming to the dance, so that means Jasper won't be able to go to the dance with me." A sad expression crossed her face at that admission. Right. Jasper technically wasn't a student anymore. "It would be boring with just me and Edward there, so it'd mean a lot if you came with us. Only if you think it'd be fun, of course."

She could only stare at Alice who was giving her impressive puppy dog eyes. "I… I don't have anything to wear."

"That's why I asked if you were free. I want to take you dress shopping!"

Her dad picked that exact moment to walk down the stairs, coat in hand. "Oh," he said, spotting Alice, taken aback by her unexpected presence. "Hi Alice. I was heading to the hospital. Do you girls need anything?"

"Hi, Mr. Verma!" Alice said brightly. "As a matter of fact… I just convinced Alia to go to the school dance! Is it okay if I take her to pick out dresses?"

Alia groaned as her dad simply nodded, swayed easily by Alice's charm. "I don't see why not." He shrugged on his coat. He pulled out his wallet and handed Alia a credit card, which she took reluctantly. "I've been thinking that you need to get out of the house more." he said to her. "Go ahead and get yourself a nice dress."

"Sure." she said, resigned to her fate as Alice grinned victoriously. "Thanks, Dad."

And after grabbing an energy bar, he was off, pulling out his phone with the other hand to take a call. Alia turned to Alice, who was practically bouncing with excitement. "All this and I haven't even brushed my teeth." Alia sighed. "Ugh, give me, like, ten minutes."

Alia couldn't deny, as she showered and threw clothes on, that she was excited by the prospect of shopping for dresses. She had never done anything like this before and was somewhat eager to see where it would go.

When she was more put together, she came down to see Alice in the same position she left her. "Chop chop! Let's go!"

It was only after getting into Alice's tiny yellow car, when Alia noticed there was someone else sitting in the backseat. "Oh... hi Rosalie."

Rosalie looked up briefly from the text she was composing, then back. "Hi."

Even after all this time, Alia was nervous around Rosalie. The rest of the Cullens had been nothing but nice to her, but Rosalie always maintained her distance. It seemed that Rosalie really didn't like her as she usually left the room whenever Alia entered with Edward. Alia didn't blame her for it, but couldn't help but feel uncomfortable and intimidated.

"Ready ladies?" Alice asked, hopping into the driver's seat, oblivious to or ignoring the silence in the air. "Great!"

They drove for a bit before Alia realised that they weren't heading down the road to Port Angeles. "Alice!" she protested feebly. "You never said we were going to Seattle!"

"You can't expect _me _to shop in a small town." Alice laughed. "Trust me, I know the _best_ boutiques down there." Alia could only flail her hands in the air. "Come on, do you have anything else to do today?"

"No, but still!" If she had known it was going to be a road trip, she would have brought earbuds.

"We could have taken my car." Rosalie added coolly as they exited Forks. "I'll be impressed if your punch buggy reaches eighty on the freeway."

"Well, I never!" Alice said, outraged. "It will, trust me."

Alice kept driving and Alia lost herself to the sights that blazed past. Alice had been right, with her yellow car smoothly flying across the road. She was glad Alice was driving as Rosalie, from what she'd seen from afar was an extremely fast driver.

They reached Seattle before noon. Alice drove confidently, as if she'd been there a thousand times, driving through the downtown area until they reached a fashionable section that clearly had a bunch of shops with prom dresses and wedding gowns on their displays. Alice parked parallel to a huge dress boutique and was out in a flash to put coins in the meter.

The inside of the boutique wasn't as crowded as Alia would have expected. There were three floors, packed with a variety of dresses as well as fitting rooms. The shop was populated with groups of chattering teenage girls and mothers watching their daughters show off their gowns in front of large mirrors.

Alia very quickly realised the biggest problem that came alongside trying on dresses with Alice. She made everything she tried on look like it came off the runway. At the very least, Rosalie wasn't trying on dresses. That would have been too much for her self esteem.

After a bit of prodding, Alia got into the swing of things. Twenty minutes into trying on dresses Alice shoved into her arms, she took initiative. She adored Alice and all, but the revealing ball gowns she kept giving her were not something she was comfortable with.

"But you have the boobs for them!" Alice protested.

"She's right." Rosalie said, holding up a floor length red gown with a plunging sweetheart neckline that was clearly more suited to her than Alia. "You don't have to be afraid to show off your figure."

"I'm not afraid." Alia said, laughing sheepishly. "Just not comfortable."

"Fair enough." Rosalie said, ignoring a pouting Alice and pulling out a few more modest dresses for Alia. "Try these."

It was after trying on one particular dress that had her heart fluttering. She peeked out of the fitting room, an eager smile on her face. "I think this is the one."

"Ooh!" Alice said, clapping her hands together, on a stand herself wearing a shocking violet ball gown. "It's really pretty."

It was Rosalie's inspection that made Alia nervous. She was seated gracefully in one of the plush armchairs for people waiting for those trying on dresses, looking like a judge at a beauty contest. This wasn't one of the dresses that she had chosen, but one that Alia had picked from the racks. After a moment, she nodded. "Jewel tones suit you."

"Thanks." Alia smiled, relieved. She inspected herself in the mirror and fluffed out the deep green skirt, looking at it from every angle she could. It was a skirt that hugged her hips without being too clingy. The neckline was straight, held up by thin straps. The dress felt feminine without being too revealing.

It was within a good price range too, on sale because it was a dress from the previous year. While it was still an exorbitant amount of money for a single article of clothing, she knew for a fact it was half of what one of Avantika's prom dresses had cost (her sister insisting on buying one for each dance). Plus it wasn't like she was a high maintenance daughter or anything… so she didn't feel too much guilt charging the credit card her dad had handed her that morning.

Next came narrowing down the many options Alice was stuck between. The solution to Alice's problem was her tapping her lip and simply declaring that she was going to buy all of them. Well, Alia wasn't too shocked. She'd been going to the Cullen house for years and was well aware that they were loaded. Even Rosalie picked up the seductive red evening gown she had been eyeing earlier, adding it to Alice's pile after asking for her size from the baffled dress shop employee.

Alia, initially thinking she was done now that they had dresses, was in for disappointment, when Alice and Rosalie moved to the shoe section. Apparently, they had to pick out shoes as well that matched the dresses. "But my dress is long!" Alia said in protest as heels kept being presented to her. "Who's going to be looking at my feet?"

Alice looked as if Alia had kicked her. "The right shoes change everything. Your posture, how the skirt falls, they give you the confidence of being taller— "

"I'm okay with my height." Alia said, picking up a pair of formal silver mary jane flats. "I already can't dance. I'm not going to make things worse by tripping around."

"Let it go." Rosalie said to an Alice who was in the middle of opening her mouth to argue. "It's her choice."

Alia smiled at Rosalie in thanks, who gave her the smallest of smiles back. Alice grumbled, but was quickly distracted by her own prospective shoes. Like before, she ended up buying a few pairs, all at least with four inch heels.

They walked out of the store with bags in stow. There was no need to tailor them in shop as Alice offered to hem and fit her dress for her (as she was apparently talented at altering clothing). Alia took her up on it and was happy to not have to pay an extra hundred bucks.

"Well, let's get going. It's a long drive back." Alice said, slinging the bags into the tiny trunk of her car.

"Would be shorter if we'd taken my car."

"Sorry, I don't speak naysayer." Alice stuck her tongue out.

"Um…" Alia said as they opened the car doors. Both Alice and Rosalie looked at her curiously and she felt her face colour. "I was thinking, if you guys are okay with it, that maybe we could get something to eat?" She had skipped breakfast with Alice's entrance that morning and it was past the time she would have normally eaten lunch. Her stomach was aching with hunger.

Surprise lit up both Rosalie and Alice's faces and they exchanged a look. "I totally forgot. Lunch… right!" Alice said quickly, immediately shutting the car door. "Let's go eat!"

"Lets." Rosalie said shortly, shooting Alice a glare.

"If you're not hungry, it's okay." Alia said. "I can wait til we get back—"

"Nonsense." Rosalie said, her expression softening as she looked at Alia. "Eating's important. What do you want?"

They decided on burgers, and ten minutes later, Alia was devouring her second hamburger, only slightly self conscious about how primly Alice and Rosalie ate in comparison. Within a minute it was gone, and she was working on the onion rings and milkshake. "I'm going to go to the bathroom." She announced, happy and slightly sleepy after she was full of food.

"We'll be here." Alice said. As soon as Alia was off to the restaurant's bathroom, humming a song under her breath, Alice and Rosalie began disposing of their own burgers and sides.

"You can see the future, but you forgot that humans need to eat?" Rosalie said in a voice too low for humans to hear.

"Oh shut up. You forgot too!"

With their supernatural speed, the food was placed under napkins, chair cushions, and under the neighbouring table. When Alia came back, she saw that they were done eating. "Thanks for waiting."

"No worries." Alice rubbed the back of her head, messing up her already artfully messy hair. "You want anything else?"

"Nah, I'm stuffed." Alia grinned happily.

"Then let's go." Rosalie said, calling for the bill.

With that, they were off once more, back towards Forks as the sky got darker and they watched the sun get lower in the sky. It was like they were chasing the sunset. By the time they were back, the sun had left them and it was dark out.

For the next few days, Alia kept opening the shoe box and inspecting her new fancy shoes, the dress being with Alice to alter, and therefore unable to be scrutinised. Now that she was in it and had a valid reason to go, she found herself excited at the prospect of the school dance. She knew she was being ridiculous. She should have just made the first step on her own to go to the dance, but didn't want to be the kind of girl that openly relished in such things.

The day of the dance came and Alia couldn't stop bouncing in her seat the entire school day, rife with nerves and excitement. When Edward looked at her curiously, she lied and told him that she'd just had too much coffee.

The afternoon came quickly. She got ready at the Cullen house, riding her bike down the familiar route with her shoes in her backpack. Alice was already in her hair, dress, and makeup, looking glamorous. She had opted to wear a shimmering lavender halter dress that came to the tops of her knees. It took little time for Alia herself to get ready and her face and hair done up by Alice. The makeup was simple, and her hair, now reaching her shoulders, was gently curled to frame her face.

By the time they were ready, Edward was waiting for them. He was in a crisp black suit that stood out against his pale skin, making him look positively regal. Side by side in front of Edward's silver Volvo, she didn't know who was more beautiful, Alice or Edward. She felt positively plain looking at them.

All those insecurities vanished when Edward smiled at her. He gave a dramatic bow. "My lady. You look stunning."

Alia dissolved into a fit of giggles at that, echoed by Alice. She patted Edward's arm and grinned up at him. "Thanks. You clean up alright yourself."

Edward smirked, tilting his head to the side. "I mean it, you know." he said in a lower voice. "You look beautiful."

"Thanks." she said, more embarrassed that time.

"Hey, let's go!" Alice said, giving them a wave. "We're just in time to be fashionably late!"

And Alice was right. They got to the dance at the perfect time, when people were already in the swing of things and didn't stare too long at Edward and Alice. The school gym was set up to look pretty nice, actually, with the lights dimmed and pastel ribbons strung about. The dance only allowed eleventh and twelfth graders, which packed up the gym to include about a hundred people in total.

Alice had to pull Alia to dance for most of the evening, to fast popular music that Alia typically avoided. Edward stood by the wall, looking as still as a statue while he watched them with a smile. He would have looked awkward if he didn't look like Edward.

Pop music, Alia found, as she got into the swing of things, had its charm at moments like these. Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, Fergie, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Pink, Christina Aguilera (Alice announced each song's artist and title as they came on)… they turned out to be good for dancing. Or maybe it was because Alice could dance to a bear pounding two rocks together and still look majestic.

Alia had taken a break to grab some punch and talk to Edward, when Alice waltzed in front of them. "I'm going to the bathroom. Might take a while. Bye!"

And she was off before either of them could get a word in. Funnily enough, only a minute after Alice had left, the music changed to something slower. Alia watched the atmosphere in the gym shift as a lot of people took the opportunity to go grab snacks or drinks, or to step out and breathe. Mostly couples were left on the dance floor.

It was pretty dreamlike, watching people slowly move to the music in each others' arms. She half-wished she could be out there too. Beside her, Edward sighed. She peeked at him through the corner of her eye, and he met her gaze, smiling in a way she couldn't describe. It was almost sad, but that didn't make any sense.

"Do you wanna dance?" Alia blurted out.

Edward's eyes widened and Alia tried to justify herself. "You— uh— haven't danced yet and I— I figured— just as friends I mean— if you wanted to dance… with me…"

He put a hand over his mouth, and Alia realised he was stifling a laugh. "Well, forget I asked, then." she huffed, looking away with a warm face.

"I wasn't laughing at you." she looked back at him to see his hand outstretched. "Only at myself."

Alia took his hand, and let him lead her to the edge of the dance floor. "Why at yourself?"

Edward smiled crookedly. "I should have asked _you_. May I?" Well, she wouldn't have asked him otherwise, then, would she? Alia nodded, and Edward put a hand on her waist. She put one of hers on his shoulder. "Just follow my lead."

How Edward was good at this too, Alia didn't know. He led her effortlessly, so she could follow with minimal effort. He kept a good distance between them, more so than the couples around them, which made sense of course, because they weren't like _that_.

Edward was smiling at her again in the same way as before, all bittersweet, and she smiled back, trying to ease some of his inscrutable feelings she could only guess at. The song that was playing was slow with the voice of the female singer slightly grating and auto-tuned. But that didn't matter. Anything could be playing and it would be just as nice to be like this, with the person she trusted the most.

As they continued dancing to a second song, neither noticed Alice peeking her head through the gym doors, nodding to herself, and skipping off to the parking lot.

...

Let me tell you, writing this chapter was just me cringing about the early 2000s and trying to reference it as much as I could in the styles of dresses and the pop music. Also, they totally danced to Cascada, because it's the early 2000s, lol. Hope that doesn't ruin it.

So, since overlordred brought it up, let me share some of the songs on my playlist for this story (that won't spoil what I have in mind later, those I'll share later):

-Rabbit Heart and Drumming Song by Florence and the Machine

-Decode by Paramore (actually on the Twilight soundtrack but fits this story much better imo)

-Sunlight by Hozier

-This is Gospel and Northern Downpour by Panic! At the Disco

-Firewood by Regina Spektor


	19. Chapter 19

Here y'all go! That thing happened again where I had two ideas that were too short on their own so I combined them into one thing here!

marsolino: Thank you! I hope you like this one too!

sansaxlannister: Haha! Believe me, I was cringing the entire time I was writing it! What the hell were we thinking?!

TheLadyO: Thank you! It's not really a 'historical period', but it was different to now, and I try to take this sort of thing seriously because it has its differences.

Guest: Golly! I guess I was the real racist the whole time! What a twist!

overlordred: Thanks, baby! I love how much you're loving all this! I freaking love Rosalie, and think Meyer did her so dirty. She's guarded, but for good reason, you know. Also, I totally love 2000s pop songs are my guilty pleasure (Sexy Back is a BOP). And you guessed it, the Cascada song they were dancing to was 100% the slow version of Every Time We Touch.

Okay, enjoy. Also, sorry in advance. ;)

...

Graduation was coming up way faster than Alia expected it would.

Maybe it was because the holidays that year were spent drafting college applications and freaking out over how to mail them.

Even while she was pouring over university pamphlets and researching the differences in literature programs, it hadn't hit her that she'd have to pack up and go to them.

It only hit suddenly when her parents sat her down one January morning before school, something unexpected all on its own with how they were _both_ there and not at the hospital. "Have you thought about what you want to do with your life?"

Of course her mother would get straight to the point. Alia looked down at the cup of coffee on the table and steeled herself. "I want to study literature."

Her parents exchanged looks at that. "A BA? Your grades aren't that bad." Her dad offered, probably in ways of comfort. "Have you thought about nursing? It's difficult, but if you work hard—"

"Dad." Alia stopped him. He looked at her, surprised. Alia realised that she had never interrupted him before. "I've thought about it a lot. It's the only thing I'd like to study. Maybe a bit of history, but… that's about it."

"There's always law school afterwards. If she picks an easy degree, she can get the grades for a good graduate program." Her mom said to her dad. He nodded, and they both seemed assured at that. Alia sighed, not bothering to correct them. If they wanted to think that'd be her path, they could go ahead. She could mention Avantika but didn't want to drag her sister under the bus for no reason, especially when she wasn't there to defend herself.

"Edward's going to go into medicine, isn't he?" Her dad asked, making Alia freeze in her tracks.

"He seems the sensible sort." Her mom said. "More so than the others. What are they doing?"

"I don't really know." Alia said, moving for the stairs. "I'm gonna go get ready."

The truth was, that while Edward sat with her and helped her fill out college applications, he didn't fill out any for himself. When she asked, he shrugged and said he was sick of school and planning to take a year or two off like his siblings. Theirs was a close family, and they valued each other too much to go in different directions. Alia had always assumed… or at least hoped… that she and Edward would end up going to the same place. But it was becoming more and more clear that they'd be separated. The thought made Alia's heart ache.

Well, she wasn't going to ruin her day by thinking about things that were months away just because her parents chose that day to show an interest in what she'd already made her mind up about months ago. Thanks to her therapist, she was good at managing things that caused her stress. Most of her applications were in, before the due date, and she needed to focus on finals. She could worry about the future some other day.

January was gone in a flash and the new semester began. A strange phenomena occurred, where everyone, even the goofiest slacker began to take classes more seriously. It seemed that everyone in their senior year was beginning to feel the nerves that came with upcoming graduation.

Alia was pulled out of the ever-encompassing threat of the last semester of classes when one rainless March day, Edward all but dragged her to go hiking with him. "Stressing yourself out isn't going to help." he'd said casually.

"We can't all be as cool as you." Alia rolled her eyes.

They talked all the way up the trail, the tension leaving Alia the higher they went. Finally, they reached the familiar mountain bench. Alia felt bad for neglecting it the past few months. If she hadn't been working at the library, studying, or filling out college applications, she was using her free time to read in the treehouse. The flowers she'd planted by the bench last summer were naturally wilted with the changing season.

Edward seemed to have thought of it in advance, pulling out a pack of wild rose seeds. "Esme said they'd be best for this time of year."

"Wow!" Alia grinned, excited at the prospect of the flowers. "Be sure to thank her for me."

They got to work clearing out the remains of old flowers and patting in the seeds. They didn't need to worry about watering them as they were in one of the rainiest parts of the world. Edward assured her that wild roses took little maintenance and would flourish in a few months time.

Once the seeds were planted, and they'd washed their hands with Alia's water bottle, they sat and enjoyed the view of the mountains and treetops. Alia noticed, as they sat there, watching the mist covered forest, that Edward was quiet. Not in the normal way when they were both focused on individual tasks and were just enjoying the other's company without needing to fill in the silence, but in the way he'd specifically get when he was thinking too hard about something. "What's up?" she found herself asking after a moment's deliberation.

Edward looked at her, clearly not at all surprised by her question. He gave her a crooked smile and let out a sigh. "I don't know how to say this." he admitted.

Say what? That was cryptic. "You can tell me anything, you know."

He let out another breath. "I wanted to give you something… well… important to me."

Alia tilted her head. "You want me to hold on to something for you?"

Edward laughed, and rubbed the back of his head. "That's one way to put it. No, I meant as a gift. For you to keep… See. I knew you'd make that face. It's not a special occasion, so I knew you'd protest."

What could she say? She didn't like uneven exchange. Birthdays and holidays were fine for gifts, because she always made sure to reciprocate, but something out of the blue felt unearned, like she was being spoiled. "What is it?" she asked.

Edward pulled it out of his pocket. It was small, wrapped in white cloth. He hesitated, before gently uncovering it. Alia gasped softly. What was hidden by the cloth was a delicate silver ring. It was engraved with what looked like leaves. Alia had never seen a ring like that before. It felt very vintage, and yet, it had a refined beauty to it.

"It was my mother's." Edward said softly. At the wide-eyed look he got from Alia, he smiled. "My birth mother's."

"Right. You mentioned her." Alia swallowed, looking to the ring again. Edward had told her of his life before being adopted by Carlisle. He only really remembered being close to his mother, his father being very distant. Both his parents died when he was very young, and Carlisle, who had been treating them, adopted Edward. She didn't press for any more details than he gave her, because she knew it made him sad.

"I was looking through her jewelry the other day… when I found this. I almost forgot I had it. I want you to have it." At the look on her face, he smiled. "Only if you want it, of course. I know you don't like this sort of thing."

Alia shook her head frantically. "It's not that! It's just… it was your mother's! Are you sure you want me to have it?!"

"Well, it won't fit me." When Alia laughed at that, he continued with a grin. "She wouldn't have wanted it sitting in a box in my room. I've given some of her other jewelry to Esme, Alice, and Rosalie. I just wanted to share some of it with you too. You're… important to me, Alia."

Alia could only smile like an idiot at that. As much as she desperately wanted to be _more_ to Edward, it warmed her heart to know he valued her as much as his mother and sisters. "I can tell it's important to you." she nodded. "Okay. I'll accept it. And I'll take super good care of it!"

The resounding smile on Edward's face was absolutely radiant. "I know you will. May I?"

Alia held out her right hand, and Edward gently slipped it onto her ring finger. "Wow, it fits perfectly!" She laughed, holding it up to the daylight. "Thanks, Edward."

Edward watched her eye the ring from all angles, and couldn't help feel a combination of euphoria and utter melancholy. It was his one little indulgence, giving it to her… even though it was on the wrong hand.

It felt natural seeing Elizabeth Masen's wedding band on Alia's finger.

...

That felt a little evil of me. Mwuhaha.

So, some more of my Twilight opinions that nobody asked for and are a decade late:

Elizabeth Masen would have gotten married in the 1880s, which is late Victorian. Engagement rings, especially diamond engagement rings weren't a thing until roughly the 1930s, unless you were VERY wealthy (like nobility). Even the very rich favoured gemstones over diamonds, which weren't widely mined until the latter part of the century. Normal people just had wedding bands, and some didn't even have those, but since the Masens were probably middle class, I choose to believe they could afford nice wedding bands.

I'm not an expert on historical jewelry or anything, so if anyone is, feel free to add more info. Researching this was a fucking pain, because when you look for historical rings, pinterest and etsy imitators that are basically modern ruin your search results. My point is that Bella's book and movie ring is A. hideous, and B. not accurate to the time period, so I choose to have Elizabeth's ring as a simple silver band that modern people would view as innocuous, but at the time, was the norm.


	20. Chapter 20

I am sorry for taking so long. This was a hard chapter to write.

Aiyanna Clearwater: Haha, no it was hideous, tacky, and not suited to either of their personalities.

marlastiano: :D

sansaxlannister: Well... here it is! Thanks for reading!

TheLadyO: That is the sweetest of you to say. I hope you still feel that way after this chapter, aha.

overlordred: Thanks, boo! I hope you're feeling better! You're gonna need to be for this chapter...

Gabbstterr: cute and cruel sums this story up perfectly, I think. Thanks for reading!

Sam2357: Thanks! It was pretty divisive, but I'm glad I stood my ground.

Here's this chapter. I hope ya'll enjoy!

...

Graduation turned out to be more anticlimactic than anything else.

Even though Alia had spent the past few weeks worrying about the ceremony and tripping in front of a crowd of scrutinising parents, she ended up fine the day of. The valedictorian gave an inspirational, yet cliche, speech that had everyone applauding. When the principal called names, Alia cheered for Edward, who came earlier in the order then settled in for the wait for the Vs with Alice (who was the last one after Alia with a last name starting with 'Z'). Alice managed to keep Alia smiling throughout the whole affair that got boring as soon as Edward had walked across the stage and they had to sit there waiting for an hour. When it was finally her turn, Alia was more eager to get it over with than anything else, shaking the principal's hand and taking her diploma without even worrying about it.

Once they were all seated with their diplomas, and their hats were thrown in the air (Alia lost hers after chucking it too far forward), it was over. She had graduated...

Except not really. Even after the ceremony, there were still three weeks left of school, which undermined the finality that should have been there. When those three weeks were done, and finals were done, and grades were out, Alia had nowhere left to hide when it came to deciding the outcome of the rest of her life.

Edward, having collected _another_ high school diploma that was thrown into the Cullen collection along with Alice's, awaited Alia's decision with trepidation. While they still spent time together, Alia pointedly avoided talking about her plans, and Edward didn't ask, not wanting to break the peace. He knew, with the virtue of his gift, that she had received offers from four places out of the seven she applied to, with two that she was actually interested in. Once she had decided on a university, they could spend that last summer together. Edward vowed to cherish every moment of it.

That was until, one day, while he was playing a now familiar song on the piano, that the ring of his phone shattered the peace forever.

Seeing Alice's number, he picked it up curiously with one hand. She and Jasper were out on a romantic getaway in Europe, having headed out as soon as the school year was over. What was it that made her call him and not the home phone?

"Edward!" Alice's voice was frantic as he answered, making him still in his one handed playing.

"What is it?" he asked immediately. Alice only took on that tone for one reason.

He heard movement in the receiver and low muttering. Jasper. "It's Alia." Alice explained. "She's okay!" she said quickly as Edward inhaled sharply and got up from his bench. "She's not in danger. But Edward, she's made a decision…" At his expectant pause, she continued. "She's… going to take a year off. Stay in Forks. She wants to stay because of you, Edward."

Edward could only take it in quietly. "She's not going..." he said at last. "... because of me."

"No." Alice said. "Oh that's great! I was so worried! That means she'll stick around longer. There's plenty of time to figure things out, right? And the two of you can finally… no… NO! Edward! Don't you dare!"

Alice began to curse at him, and Jasper's voice came in. "What did you see, Alice? _Edward_, what did you do?"

"I've just made up my mind, that's all." he said coldly. Alice ordered him to stay on the line, under threat of bodily harm. Edward snapped his phone shut. Even though he couldn't read minds over the phone, he knew how Alice's worked. They'd be on the next flight back. But by that time, it would be too late. When the phone rang again insistently, he turned it off and threw it aside.

He was out of the house as soon as daylight struck and in front of Alia's house. "Hey, you're like way early!" she grinned at him as she opened the door, hair a mess.

"Do you want to go for a walk? I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Sure, that sounds good! I gotta tell you something, too. Lemme grab breakfast first." Alia pushed him to take a seat and even threw on a movie for him before she hopped over to the kitchen and stuck a bagel in the toaster. She was cheery this morning, her mind relaxed. Edward felt a sharp pain in his chest as he watched her from the living room sofa, the action movie going ignored. I _should look into getting another job, now that I'm sticking around for a year or two. Maybe Edward'll wanna go on a trip or something. We could go somewhere nice and warm. We both love the classics, so maybe Italy! I can afford it now that I won't be paying for tuition!_

"Forget the walk!" he snapped, standing up in a hurry, as the feelings got worse and threatened to smother him.

"Edward?" Alia said, dropping her half buttered bagel. She wiped her hands of crumbs on her jeans and got up. "What— what's wrong?"

He took a long look at her, committing to memory the creases on her cheek from sleep, the chipped nail polish on her fingers, the way her hoodie strings were drawn too tight, before schooling his features. "I'm not going to be able to spend time with you anymore."

Alia only looked at him, the words not fully going through. Finally, she laughed. "Good one." When he didn't laugh, the smile on her lips fell. "Hold on. What the hell are you talking about?"

If this were three years ago, she would have suspected what he was about to say. The fact that she didn't hurt even more. "I don't have time for you anymore."

Her jaw fell, and no words came out. Edward continued, his words a little too fast. "I've decided I'm going to leave Forks. I just can't waste my time anymore."

_I… but where is he… I thought he wanted to stay with his family— that doesn't make any— why can't we hang out after he comes back?! Wait… what the hell? _"What do you mean 'waste your time'?" Alia narrowed her eyes. "Is hanging out with me a waste of time?"

Edward met her gaze, full of ire, and matched it. "Yes." She was stunned at that, too stunned even to think besides a jumble of hurt thoughts. "I could be doing a lot of other things, more productive things... To put it simply, I can't be friends with you anymore."

That did the trick, Edward saw with despair. She finally understood. It took her a minute, but what emerged finally was anger. "We can't be friends anymore? What are you, ten?" she snapped, eyes blazing. "This isn't elementary school, you asshole. You don't just break up with your best fr— friend!" Her voice broke and to her chagrin, angry tears began falling unbidden from her eyes.

She turned her back to Edward and wiped at them furiously, cursing herself. His hand reached forward involuntarily, before he glued it back to his side. "It's easier this way." he muttered. "We're going to different places, so why bother keeping up the act? It's time to move on, isn't it? We're not kids anymore. Did you expect to be best friends until we were eighty?"

_He really hates me then, doesn't he?_ "Phones exist. Emails exist. That's not an excuse. You clearly don't want to be friends with me anymore for some other reason. But you know what—" she whirled around, uncaring now of her now puffy eyes and dripping nose. "Fine. I don't want to know why. It's _fine_. Also fuck you. Also, get out."

It took all his willpower to move his body to the door. He turned back and glanced at her briefly before opening the door. "Wait!" she stopped him before he left.

"Alia, don't…" he said hurriedly as he saw what she was doing.

Even in her anger, she took off the ring with care, holding it outstretched in her shaking hand. "Take it back. There's no point in me having it."

"It was a gift. It's yours." He swallowed the lump in his throat, as he closed her open fist with the ring in it. _This is the last time I'll touch her_, he realised in agony as he registered how warm and soft her skin was. His hand lingered for a moment longer than it should have before he withdrew it. "If you don't want it, you can throw it out." He walked out. It had begun to drizzle.

"Why did you even bother?!" Alia had run out after him. He stopped. "Why did you bother becoming my friend if you were gonna do this to me?" He turned to look at her. The rain was mingling with the tears on her face, and gluing her clothes to her body. She looked so small standing there, held up by her pain. Edward wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms. "I have to know." she said quietly.

"Because I'm selfish. I was lonely and I wanted a friend." Edward said simply. "But life is short and it has to keep going. Goodbye Alia."

He left her, standing in front of her door in the rain. Once he was out of sight, and couldn't hear the sound of Alia's sobs anymore, Edward collapsed against a tree, feeling dry gasps arise from his own lungs.

It had to be done. _It had to_, he told himself. Somehow, she had convinced herself that he was worth sacrificing her future for, that they could have a life together, that if she just waited for him, they could continue as they had been. He knew he had to break off their bond so that she could have a better life. He _knew_ it was the right thing to do.

And yet, the right thing sure felt like heartbreak.

...

I'm so sorry. Please don't be too mad. I was kind of building to this moment for a while, and it had to happen. This story will have a happy ending, I promise. The next chapter will deal with the fallout.

The songs for this chapter are Crushcrushcrush by Paramore and Cherry by Lana del Rey.


	21. Chapter 21

Ahahahaha, not going to lie, I feel real devious after the last chapter and everyone's reactions to it. Sorry for dumping that on you in the middle of a pandemic. But as the pandemic goes on, so does this story! Real talk, I hope everyone is keeping safe. It's a scary time.

I know everyone is concerned about what Edward did. The thing is, it's the sort of person he is. He's dramatic, a bit of a moron, and sure that he knows best. Despite how at fault he is for this, I can't help but feel a bit bad for him too. Really what happened last chapter was that he panicked at the idea of her possibly choosing to spend more time (possibly all of her time) with him.

Enjoy the fallout!

...

It was one of the worst days of Alia's life.

Only last night, she had made up her mind to stay in Forks. For him. She had been delaying choosing a university, because she was terrified of leaving her home, her parents, and Edward. So, lying there and staring up at the ceiling, she decided to listen to her heart and what it wanted.

It begged her to stay with Edward no matter what. To buy some more time. Just a little bit more.

She wanted to go to university. She wanted to meet new people and experience new things and see the world, to get out of the bubble her parents kept her in. But she was willing to put that on hold for a bit for _him_.

And for what? She had poured her heart into those hopes only for him to say those terrible things. It must have been why he always got quiet whenever the future came up. He was feeling suffocated and she hadn't even noticed it.

_But so what if I didn't notice it? _Alia thought as soon as her mind traitorously began finding ways to blame herself for his actions. It wasn't her job to figure out everything that went on in his head. Edward was an adult. He owed it to her to be reasonable and treat her decently even if he hated her guts.

And yet, didn't she owe it to him to try and figure out what went wrong? Every single time something troubled her, he figured out what was upsetting her and supported her.

_It's different_, she realised after pondering for a good hour. _I always trusted him, always opened up to him. He always kept himself hidden. He never trusted me enough to tell me anything that was going on with him. Well, until now that is… _

Alia fluctuated between grief and anger for the rest of her day, only coming out of her room to get a tub of ice cream to devour. When that was gone and her stomach hurt from all the sugar, she put on what was supposed to be a comforting Pixar movie, and immediately began crying again when "You've Got a Friend in Me" began playing over the opening credits. She had to turn Toy Story off and go cry in the bathroom. She spent the rest of the evening reading horror stories that she could consume without emotions getting in the way.

That night, after Alia's tears had dried up, and her mind was a bit clearer, she went to her computer and immediately accepted an offer to a university. It was the one she was most looking forward to, the University of Washington. They were offering her a good scholarship that covered a third of tuition costs for first year, and had the added benefit of being close to Forks. Well it used to be a benefit… It didn't really matter now, did it?

_No_, she told herself furiously. She still loved Forks and she wasn't going to let Edward ruin that.

With ten pages of her feelings scrawled out in her journal, a cramped hand from the writing, and fitful night of sleep, Alia rode her bike to the Cullens' house the next morning. After summoning some determination, she knocked on the door.

It only took a few moments before it opened and Esme greeted her. Even the normally warm Esme couldn't hide the troubled expression on her face. "Alia. I'm glad you came to visit."

"Hi Esme." Alia swallowed. "Is Edward home?"

"No." Esme said softly. Alia nodded, and let out the breath she'd been holding. "Please, come in. I'll fix you some tea. I still have some of your favorite."

"That's nice of you." Alia smiled, despite herself at the thoughtfulness. "But I— uh— was only stopping by. Could you please give this to Edward?" She handed over an envelope with shaky hands that Esme took. "I'm gonna go now. It was nice seeing you."

"Alia." Esme's voice stopped her as she began to back away. "Will you tell me what happened?" she asked imploringly, eyes pleading. "Did you two fight? Edward won't— didn't tell us."

Alia could only look away. "It's up to him to tell you then, sorry. Also… it's um… official. I'm going to college in September and moving away so I guess this is goodbye. Give everyone my best."

Esme surprised Alia by drawing her into a tight hug. After a moment, Alia hugged her back. "You're always welcome here, sweetheart. Always."

Alia knew Esme meant it. However, she wasn't planning on coming back when Edward didn't want her around. She blinked away the fresh tears that rose in her eyes and gave Esme her brightest smile when she drew back. "Thank you." She put back on her helmet and after a wave and one look at the house, she was off as fast as she could go.

Esme watched her ride off. "Really Edward?" she asked, knowing full well he was listening in from his room, from where he hadn't emerged since he'd gotten home the day before. "What on earth happened? The poor thing looked like she'd been crying."

Edward didn't answer, and Esme considered dragging him out by the ear. But that wouldn't accomplish anything except make him more sullen. So she went to his door and slipped the letter Alia had left underneath.

From his position at his desk, where he'd had his head buried in his hands for hours, Edward rose and silently picked up the letter. After staring at it for entirely too long, he opened a drawer and slipped it in, before resuming his original position.

He was entirely focused on listening to the sounds around the house. It was only him and Esme at home at that moment. She was painting in her studio, but wasn't humming like she normally was. She was probably worrying.

Once a few more hours had passed, he heard Rosalie and Emmett come home from wherever they'd been, soon followed by Carlisle. Esme ran to the door to greet them all as they arrived in turn. He couldn't hear her hushed whispers, purposely quiet enough to keep him from hearing, but could make a good guess at what she was telling them.

Still, no one bothered him. Even though he heard Emmett threaten to pull him out of his room by force, a quiet word from Carlisle stopped him. The attempt at giving Edward space didn't matter as soon as the loud sound of a car approached the house.

"EDWARD!" Alice didn't bother getting her luggage as she stormed out of her car and into the house. "Get your ass down here right now!"

The rest of the family had gathered around her. Jasper entered the house a moment later, expression grim. "We caught the first flight back when Alice saw… well… that Edward broke off his friendship with Alia." he said in explanation. "For good."

Esme let out a small gasp. "Why would he do such a thing?" Carlisle asked.

"Because he—" Alice threw her hands up in the air "—is a self-righteous idiot who thinks he's protecting her from himself by breaking her heart."

As she rapidly told the rest of them what she had seen Edward do, he stalked downstairs. "What happened is none of your business."

"Cut the crap." Alice snapped.

"Of course it's our business." Emmett spoke up, slapping him on the back. "This is about you and your happiness."

"This has nothing to do with my happiness." Edward scowled, shaking off Emmett's hand. "I'll be fine."

"You're a liar." Jasper said quietly. Everyone turned to look at him. "Why don't you tell them the truth?"

"Don't!" Edward snapped.

"I'm sorry. I have to. It's not just your business anymore." Jasper said. "Edward's in love with Alia. He has been for some time now."

"Oh Edward…" Esme pressed her hands together. "Does she know?"

"Of course she doesn't." Jasper said. "If she did, then she would have told him that she feels the same way. You had to know she's in love with you too, Edward."

"She thinks she's in love." Edward said, voice resigned at the shocked expressions around him. "She doesn't know any better. If she knew the truth about me, those feelings would disappear."

"Lying again. We both know that Alia's not that shallow." Jasper shook his head. "Are you going to deny that you're hurting too? Completely heartbroken?"

"What would you have me do?!" Edward snapped, grabbing Jasper the collar. "Keep up the charade for how long?! Two, three, _five_ years? I won't stop her life from moving forward."

"Simple then." Alice said, prying Edward's hands off of Jasper with a cool glare. "You tell her the truth."

There was silence in the room until Edward broke it with a sharp, near hysterical laugh.

"Tell her?" Rosalie said at last.

"Yeah, everything." Alice said, exchanging a look with Jasper. "We talked about it on the way back, and think it'd be the best way to fix this mess."

"I won't allow it!" Edward snarled.

Alice squared her shoulders against Edward's menacing posture. "I say we put it up to a vote."

"_No_! We are not voting!"

"She's my friend too. If we decide on it, then I'll tell her everything myself." Alice looked at Carlisle expectantly.

Carlisle sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Alice, that means you intend for her to be turned at some point."

"Is that so bad?" she asked. "Edward would get to be with the person he loves and we would get a new sister. Our family would be complete."

"Carlisle, please." Edward said desperately. "You can't entertain this."

Carlisle looked between the two of them, until Edward growled and stalked to the corner of the room. "I'm sorry son. A vote seems fair."

"A no from me." Edward snapped. "Obviously."

"It's a yes from me." Alice chirped. "_Obviously_."

"Yes." Jasper said without hesitation. Edward let out another frustrated sound. "I'd rather have you happy, Edward."

"... No." They all looked to Rosalie, who had just spoken up. "I… like her well enough. She's a sweet girl, but I know that I didn't want this life for myself. I think she'll be better off living a normal life."

"Thank you." Edward said quietly.

They looked to Emmett next, who looked between Rosalie and his siblings, clearly torn. "I don't know. Edward. You were so depressed before you became friends with her…"

"I won't be happy this way, I promise."

Alice and Jasper immediately began arguing with him, and Rosalie turned to Emmett. "You don't have to agree with me."

"I know babe." Emmet sighed. "Well… shit. I'm sorry guys, but it is Edward's call at the end of the day. I vote… no then."

Edward nodded and turned immediately to Esme, who had begun pacing. "Esme… Think of her future."

"Don't try to emotionally manipulate her, Edward." Alice snapped.

"No, that's Jasper's job, isn't it." he snapped back.

"Enough." Esme said, making them both shut up. "Edward, I think she has the right to know."

"You'd keep her frozen forever like us Esme?" Rosalie said, making Esme stop in her tracks. "She'd never be able to grow old… or have children."

"Oh please." Alice snapped. "Not everyone is obsessed with popping out babies. No offense." she said as Rosalie glowered at her. "I'm perfectly satisfied without them."

"She deserves the choice." Rosalie countered.

"And she'll get it." Alice said. "We won't force her into being a vampire. Just give her the choice."

"I…" All eyes turned to Esme. She looked to Carlisle and smiled sadly. "If I knew the truth when we first met, I might have been better off. I'd have been spared a lot of pain"

"That's not the same." Edward said, his tone softer than that directed to his siblings. "It's a different time. She has the chance to do anything. Everything. Be whoever she wants."

"All the same…" Esme looked him in the eyes. "She deserves the truth. I vote yes."

Edward clenched his jaw, but nodded at her before turning to his father. "Carlisle. You get the deciding vote."

It took him a few seconds. He twined his hand with Esme's. "I'm torn." he said honestly. "No matter what I choose, there won't be peace. Therefore I must vote based on my principals."

Edward and Alice both reacted at the same time as they understood Carlisle before he spoke. He continued despite their sudden exclamations. "I have to say… no. I would never give someone this life unless there was no other choice. And there is a choice here, to let Alia live out her life without being burdened by the knowledge we have." He looked to Esme apologetically, but she squeezed his hand in response, understanding.

"There you have it." Edward said to Alice and Jasper, who were rendered silent at Carlisle's decision. "I'm sorry I ever endangered our family in the first place. But it's over now. We can go back to normal."

No one was reassured by Edward's words. As he stormed out of the house, they all exchanged wary looks.

They would stand by the vote. They always did whenever a major decision had to be made. But no one was truly happy by the outcome.

The Cullens would weather this storm, as they always did. Alia was hurt now, but Alice grudgingly admitted that she saw her making new friends in university, do well in her classes, and continue to grow to be a smart, confident, happy woman. Edward was right in that she could and would find happiness without him.

But would Edward ever smile again the way he did around her? Would he ever fall in love again? They could not know.

All of them, even Alice, who was seething at the turn of events, and Rosalie who initially was furious at Edward for ever befriending Alia, vowed to be there for him. That was what family was for.


	22. Chapter 22

Hewwo, sorry for taking so long and for this chapter being on the short side. I had a combination of a depressive episode (what with quarantine) and writer's block. Thank you all for your kind comments. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

...

The rest of the summer passed by shockingly fast.

Alia had thrown herself into her books, her games, and in watching all the tv shows she'd neglected during the school year. Before she knew it, it was the end of August and she had all her belongings packed up in the trunk of her parents' minivan.

The night before she was set off to leave for Seattle with her parents, she was very tempted to go to a certain house one last time, for one last chance to see a certain ex-friend. She steeled herself, however, and refrained from falling into that temptation. It was over, and there was no point in opening her freshly closed wounds. She'd said what she needed to in her letter, and if Edward hadn't reached out to her despite that, then there was no going back.

It didn't stop her from crying quietly in the backseat, hidden from her parents' eyes, as they drove out of Forks. She chose not to watch the road the entire drive, but sit back with her earbuds on and eyes closed. When her parents began arguing about directions in a few hours, Alia knew that they were close to their destination and opened her eyes.

The gloom she'd been shrouded with faded when she saw the influx of students walking around the campus, all first years judging by luggage and the nervous parents trailing after them. It was a huge campus, hence her parents' confusion, but there were volunteers in colourful t-shirts, that held up signs indicating the way to the different residence halls.

When they got to the right building, Alia saw with some disappointment that it was one of the modern residences, and not one of the gorgeous old-style halls they'd driven by. Well, at least the facilities would be more modern, at least.

The nice thing was that there were more volunteers at the residence, McMahon Hall, who helped Alia and her parents with her luggage so it only took one trip up the six flights of stairs. The room itself, a single, was tiny, with a bed, dresser, and desk. That suited Alia fine. She wasn't planning on staying cooped up in it. They were done getting it in order and her stuff unpacked quicker than she'd expected, leaving them free by 4 pm. They spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the campus, and listening in on tours. By 6, her parents took her to dinner, which felt so final that Alia felt herself getting emotional again.

"Don't go walking late at night by yourself." her mom said sternly over their appetizers. "There's a safety service, so make sure to get their number."

"You should also get started on your readings." her dad said. "It's easy to fall behind, so you'll want to stay on top of things, especially if you want the grades for law."

"And don't go to any parties. You don't want to get involved with the wrong sort."

The advice and warnings continued all the way to desert, and Alia could only smile and nod. It was their own way of showing that they cared, by piling it all on at the last minute.

When they were in the parking lot, and were about to leave, she hugged both of them. "You'll be fine, Alia." her dad said, patting her on the shoulder. "You've always been responsible."

"Thanks, dad." Alia said, blinking away the tears.

Her mom's expression was almost soft. "We'll call you tomorrow morning, okay?"

"Okay, mom. I love you guys."

"We love you too."

Alia watched them drive off, and went back up to her new dorm room. There were little dry erase boards on each door, to which she scribbled her name. She contemplated dotting the 'i' with a heart, but decided against it. That would be trying way too hard.

She wandered around her new room for half an hour, trying to familiarise herself with it, before someone knocked on her door. When she opened it, she was greeted by a breathless girl with dirty blonde pigtails. "Hey, they're asking everyone to come downstairs. Some kind of orientation."

"Uh, sure." Alia said, fumbling for her keys, before following the girl.

Over the next few days, Alia was thrown into all different kinds of social situations. Icebreakers, pancake breakfasts, volleyball games, movie nights… all attempts by the RAs to get all the new terrified first years to feel a little less lonely. It was disheartening at first, because she didn't immediately connect to people on her floor, even if they were nice enough to include her. She dreaded that she was doomed to be the outsider that people only put up with. It also didn't help her confidence that she had just lost the only friend she'd ever had. It made her wonder if she was just doomed to be alone.

All her negative thoughts ceased as soon as soon as classes started and she found people who were interested in the same things as her. Over the next few weeks, as she got more familiar with the campus, she gravitated towards three people in her American literature class, getting lunch with them everyday and hanging out in the union building in the evenings to do schoolwork or goof off.

It was bittersweet, forming new friendships. Part of her was almost hoping that she wouldn't make any friends, that she could stay alone and keep everyone away, that Edward would have been a special standard that no other could reach. The other, smarter part of her, enjoyed the interaction she had so lacked for the past two months. What also hurt, was that her new friends were so different from Edward, enthusiastic and nerdy like her, interested in the same games and media, eager to share their own interests.

What was the newest thing to Alia was the feeling of being _leaned on_. Having May come to her in tears because she didn't understand the instructions for the term paper, Freddie venting about his boyfriend being too clingy, Maurine ranting about the environment. For the first time, Alia could listen to others and be depended upon. It was a good feeling, and made her realise all the more how one sided her friendship with Edward had been.

What had to be the biggest shock were her classes. At first, they were terrifying with lecture halls filled with the same amount of students in her entire high school. But soon, Alia found herself engrossed in all the new information that came her way. While she did have one obnoxious professor in her European history class (who told them on the first day not to bother asking him any questions), most her teachers reminded her of Ms. MacLean. After the first day of classes, Alia was sure that this was where she was meant to be, that through learning, she could become a smarter person and find her person in life. It also helped that all her classes were in things she was actually interested in, and that she didn't have to step anywhere near a math or science building.

The greatest thing was that university was nothing like high school. There were no cliques, or popularity. No concept of there being losers or outcast. No one cared. There were too many people, an ocean compared to the puddle that was Forks.

An ocean that she was ready to dive into.

...

I did not need to research UW this hard, but I couldn't help myself.


	23. Chapter 23

Hello, I'm back! I'm so sorry for how long this took. I actually scrapped another chapter idea, because I wasn't feeling it and jumped right into this one, even if its a bit abrupt. Also, I'm not going to lie. The new Animal Crossing game has consumed my life, and is partly to blame. I haven't been able to do anything productive the past few weeks.

VelvetCoral: I definitely agree. Edward is immature in a lot of ways. But I think that despite being immortal, he's capable of change. That's what I'm going for at least, that he's changed some throughout this story.

Kpop2012: Thank you!

Aiyanna Clearwater: Such a dillwad lol!

sam: I'm glad you're glad. It was important for her to grow a bit.

im-okay-mj: yes! she is taking care of herself!

mice: I'm glad you see it that way :)

Woggie: Thank you for reading! I wasn't trying to subvert stereotypes with my race bending. My thought process was actually just that Alice and Emmett are both dark haired, and have backstories that can fit people of color. But you make an important point and I thank you for bringing it up. Also, for Edward and math, I was playing it up for comedy, but I realise I should have been more clear. I definitely think he can do high school level math, just not the dense theoretical stuff. I just wanted to bully him, lol.

BrookeWorm3: Update is here! :)

...

It happened, as most shocking events did, completely unexpectedly.

Edward was sitting at his piano, not playing, but resting his forehead against the music rack, when Emmett strode in and interrupted his rest by rustling his hair. _Maybe if you keep trying, you'll be the first vampire to be able to sleep_.

"What do you want?" Edward asked, as Emmett continued the annoying action of mussing up his hair, despite his efforts to ignore him.

"Play a game with me. I've been practicing and I'm ready to kick your ass."

He lifted his head, and beheld Emmett's determined expression. Edward could only roll his eyes and get up, indicating with a hand for Emmett to lead.

They settled down by the living room, where Emmett already had the game console set up. It was entirely an accident that Emmett had fallen into video games, an accident that could be blamed on Alia, who had left one of her old handheld consoles at the Cullen house. Edward had gotten Alice to mail it forward to her address, only for it to arrive back at the Cullen house, with a passive aggressive note. '_It's a gift. If you don't want it, throw it out_.'

Emmett picked it up one day out of boredom, and didn't put it down for the next 72 hours. When he did, it was to buy as many video games as he could. Rosalie bemoaned all the space the new fixation took up in their room.

"How crass." Edward smirked, seeing the game Emmett picked to be one of those war time shooters he was obsessed with as of late.

"Hey, don't judge." _Besides, playing Nintendo games make you sad_.

Edward looked forward and pretended not to hear that thought. "Do you think you actually have a chance with this one?" he taunted further, selecting his choice of weapons.

"You bet I do." Emmett grinned, oblivious to Edward's shift in mood.

They played through two matches, with Edward easily beating Emmett. What his brother failed to realise was that the more complicated the game mechanics, the easier it was for him to read his every move. He considered letting Emmett win, but both his pride and suspicion that Emmett would catch on, held him back. Despite himself, he enjoyed these competitions, even if they brought up memories of Alia.

At first, during the month she had left, Edward had brushed off all the attempts to break him out of his depression. It was Alice that had finally gotten through, declaring that he couldn't '_live the rest of his life draped dramatically over his piano'_.

They all managed to distract Edward in one way or another. Carlisle went over new medical research with him, which was painfully boring, but at least helped pass the time. Esme made him accompany her every time she left the house, citing a need for him to venture out once in a while. Alice and Jasper also forced him to be a third wheel whenever they went out. Emmett challenged him to various competitions whether they be chess, sparring, or video games. Even Rosalie kept him occupied by bickering with him over trivial things.

With Alia's departure, Edward had been wandering like a ghost, in a state of sorrow and regret that he only pulled himself out of to make it appear like everything was okay. He was half tempted to leave for a few years while his heart healed, so his family wouldn't have to deal with him and his pain. But truthfully, he didn't want to be more alone than he already was.

Also, his siblings would probably follow him and annoy him into coming back.

He should have felt anger towards his family for how they meddled and smothered him… he wanted very much to. But he didn't have the luxury. With his gift, he unfortunately was forced to know that his family loved him very much and did in fact want the best for him. It was impossible to be angry after that.

His own internal world, which he had been preoccupied with for the past few months, mattered little, as soon as he heard a loud gasp and clatter of something being dropped. Edward and Emmett were up instantly as Jasper began asking Alice, "What is it? What did you see?"

Edward walked through the open door of her and Jasper's room. Alice gave a strangled cry as she locked eyes with him. Edward read the vision that she had and froze in place. "_No_."

"Edward…" Alice said, eyes wide in horror. Her mouth opened and no other words came out.

"What the hell happened?" Emmett looked between them, brow furrowed.

"Is it…" Jasper had wrapped an arm around Alice, and she leaned against him in turn. The rest of their family had piled into the room as well.

"It's only nine o clock…" Alice said faintly to a still frozen Edward, indicating to the clock on the wall. "If we— if we go now— we might be able to get to her before…" she trailed off and began to search the future again. Seeing it unchanging, she closed her eyes in frustration.

The spell was broken. Edward growled and was off in a blur. No one followed as Alice explained her vision to the rest of their family. He was driving away in the fastest car in the garage, Rosalie's SSC Aero, before anyone could think to stop him.

He was driving like a monster, swerving in between lanes at the top speeds he could force from the sports car, the only image spurring him forward the one that he had seen in Alice's mind. He sped past a blaring police car, and nearly crashed into a minivan in the left lane, ignoring the sirens and angry honks. They couldn't hope to catch him at his speeds nearing 200 miles per hour.

As soon as he got off the highway, he abandoned the car and began to run. It was only when he made it into the city that he let out a cry of frustration. He had no idea which hospital to go to, and didn't bring his new smartphone with him. It took twenty minutes longer than it should have, running from hospital to hospital, until he caught the scent.

By then, Carlisle and Alice had caught up to him, having ridden on Jasper's fastest bike. The others were trailing behind, another twenty minutes behind in Emmett's Jeep. Neither said a word, but their thoughts were clear enough. Alice only spoke up when Edward was about to charge through the hospital's main doors. "We shouldn't draw attention to ourselves."

Edward instead changed his course to the windows leading upward, leaping from vantage points, until he reached the top floor, which was only three stories high. As soon as they were through the window and into the abandoned corridor, the scent hit them all. Alice stopped breathing and fell behind them as they made their way to the hospital room. He felt her struggle with the overwhelming power of the blood. Edward continued toward the door, only vaguely registering Carlisle's words to Alice, "Why don't you stay by the door and keep watch?"

Alice nodded gratefully, touching Edward's arm quickly before he and Carlisle entered.

Edward could only stare in horror at the sight in front of him.

Part of him had hoped that it was a mistake. That what he'd seen in Alice's vision was a fluke, that coming here and seeing it with his own eyes would make the nightmare disappear. But it was worse. It was so much worse. It wasn't only that Alia was lying, covered in bandages and connected to several machines, looking pallid and frail. It was her heartbeat, normally a vibrant drum, rendered weak. It was the ventilator around her face, the only thing keeping her breathing. It was how her thoughts were full of darkness, and weak confusion, the quietest he'd ever heard from her. It was the rich tang of her sweet blood, seeping through the bandages around her leg and abdomen, and how his traitor body felt hunger for it.

Carlisle moved before Edward did, picking up her medical chart and skimming through it in two agonising seconds. _Broken leg, broken ribs, cuts along the back… Severe brain trauma. _Tossing the chart aside, Carlisle moved into full doctor mode, lifting her eyelids, taking her vitals, gently pressing the pads of his fingers around the back of her head. Alice must have told Carlisle about the outcomes she saw, but still, he persisted, until his hands slowed, and he looked to Edward solemnly. "Edward… They did their best, but the brain damage is very severe. She's losing blood. Her nervous system is beginning to shut down. She…"

She wasn't going to make it. Edward's legs finally moved. He slumped over Alia, burying his head into the sterile hospital sheets by the crook of her shoulder. Her hair brushed against his forehead. _Lavender…_ he thought miserably, taking in the harsh chemically perfumed scent. It was her favorite scent. He took a hand in his, shuddering at how cold it was. He felt a rush of agony as he realised she was still wearing his mother's ring. "You idiot… you reckless little _idiot_."

"Don't blame her, son." Carlisle said gently. "Humans are fragile... their lives so short compared to ours." he put his hand on Edward's shoulder. "I'm sorry it ended up like this."

Edward let out a choked, tearless sob. He lay there in his grief as Carlisle stood behind him, presence silent and strong. Carlisle only moved away when footsteps approached the room. He didn't have to do anything, as Alice directed the nurse in a confident, if not too high voice, to help her find her way to a different wing. Despite protesting at first, Alice succeeded in drawing him away.

Carlisle voiced what he had been contemplating in his mind. "It doesn't have to be the end for her."

Edward sat up and pressed Alia's cold hand to his lips. If Carlisle were by himself, he wouldn't have hesitated. He would have bitten Alia, for the chance to save a life, to prevent such a pointless waste. But Carlisle was hesitating because of Edward. Even though Carlisle's beliefs were strong, with those beliefs being the foundation for their family, he still wanted Edward's consent. It was infuriatingly noble. Maybe he knew that even if Edward refused to turn her, Alice would step in and attempt to do it herself.

"Everything I did… all the pain I caused her…" Edward said. "It was all for nothing. It only drove her to this."

"You didn't cause this." Carlisle said, voice quiet, but firm. "It was an accident, based on a spur of the moment decision that even Alice couldn't foresee until too late."

Logically, he knew Carlisle was right. But logic had never helped his guilt before.

What Edward didn't know until the very moment he first laid eyes on Alia that terrible July night, was that he didn't care about protecting her humanity as much as he thought he did, not weighed against the possibility of losing her like this. Maybe he would be damning her. Maybe she'd hate him. It didn't matter.

He fell into her mind, trying to scour it for more insight. Any ray of hope… any indication that she could power through, open her eyes. But there was nothing. He could feel her thoughts getting weaker as he sat there and deliberated.

"You have to make a decision, Edward." Carlisle reminded him again.

Edward looked away from Alia reluctantly and turned to Carlisle. "I'll do it."

He expected Carlisle to protest, and doubt his control and insist on doing it himself. But the thought didn't even cross his father's mind. Instead, Carlisle breathed a sigh of relief. Outside the room, Alice had returned without the nurse, and she gasped as Edward made his decision.

Edward didn't have time to question what she had seen. All he could focus on was Alia in front of him. His sweet Alia. The one he had dared to fall in love with despite how foolish it was. He always had been rendered a fool around her, throwing away all reason. He put aside his doubts, all his guilt, and brushed her hair away from her shoulder.

He leaned down and pressed his lips to her slender neck. It was unlike the way he'd fantasised kissing her, but sweet all the same, the skin warmer than her hand. He steeled himself, already feeling dizzy from the proximity of her weakly beating heart.

He plunged his fangs into her neck, sealing her destiny for better or for worse.

...

More songs from the Alia playlist that I can give you without worrying about spoilers now:

Flowers by Eva Noblezada (Hadestown soundtrack)

Blue Lips by Regina Spektor

Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saens

Murder Song (Acoustic) by Aurora

Happiness is a Butterfly by Lana del Rey


	24. Chapter 24

Aiyanna Clearwater: all I'll say is next chapter hehe.

sansaxlannister: Tom Nook is an evil bastard, but can't keep me forever.

firstofhername: me neither aha!

BrookeWorm3: hell yeah she is!

guest: here's your update bb

OnceUponaDrearyDream: and I love you. Here you go!

Hinanui98: Thank you so much for giving me a chance! I hope this chapter keeps you going until the next :D

marsolino: hoo hoo I guess you'll see in this chapter :3

hanachaan: I'm not that evil haha

G. : Thank you so much! Honestly, while writing this, I've grown to love Edward so much more. My heart is so happy to hear your compliment, so thank you!

Gabbstterr: It's been a slow burn, for sure, hehe.

Ash: you're so sweet I'm literally about to cry. I'm so happy you've enjoyed my work, and hope you'll like this chapter too. Honestly, the highest praise is that you could tolerate this hellsite just for my writing.

Thank you all so much for your constant support. I know my writing rate has gotten slower, but I am determined to finish this story before I move on to other projects. I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

...

It promised to be a fun night.

After a tough, but fun first year of university, Alia was determined to enjoy her summer break. Since they could only stay in university housing during the school year, she was sharing an apartment with her friends. Her parents offered to have her home in Forks for the summer, but that was something she _definitely_ didn't want to do, even if it meant having to work to stay in the city.

But she liked to keep busy. She liked her routine, working at the coffee shop by the park, followed by an evening reading at the library, playing video games, or catching a movie with her friends. She liked how busy everything was, even without school. After spending all her life in a quiet town, she was still only beginning to enjoy how different things were in the city.

That Friday night was a game night. There were six of them piled into Freddie's tiny apartment living room on cheap Ikea couches. After their third game of Settlers of Catan was finished, May was ready to leave, citing an early shift the next morning as the reason. Alia agreed to go with her roommate instead of taking the couch Freddie offered. She didn't mind cutting the night short if it meant she could convince May to stop at the convenient store for some soda.

She got on behind May on her motorcycle, making sure her helmet was secure. After giving her friend a thumbs up to indicate she was ready, they were off.

Despite knowing that she'd probably never get a license of her own, since buying a vehicle was so infeasible, Alia loved riding on a motorcycle. The speed was exhilarating, especially on warmer nights like that one. It felt especially great as May expertly wove through the lanes, as if she could bypass the mundane traffic. She understood a little why people were obsessed with cars and bikes.

"Hey what time is it?!" May yelled over the hum of the bike.

With one hand still firmly on May's waist, Alia checked her watch. "9:40!"

"Nice! I can still catch that episode of Lost!"

Of course. She'd only wanted to leave to watch her favorite show. "Soda first!" Alia laughed, the sound getting drowned out as they were moving again, onto the highway. May waved her hand in acknowledgment. They'd still make it by 10 if Alia was quick to shop. Well, it wasn't as if there'd be many people in the convenience store so late.

Dreaming of her favorite cream soda, Alia didn't notice the blaring of headlights on the right as they passed an intersection until it was too late. She opened her mouth to scream, but only felt the lights get blinding. And then, the world stopped.

It didn't really hurt, getting hit by a truck. Alia had always dreamed of flying, and this was it, wasn't it? She was flying through the air, as if she were on a roller coaster. She could have been flying for minutes, or hours. But the landing had to come. A landing that proved to hurt a lot more, with her head making a sickening crack . The pain faded quickly with her vision, leaving everything a confusing dark mess.

She could sense red lights behind her closed eyes and the cold pavement beneath her. There were also voices, but they were so confusing, that she didn't bother trying to interpret them.

Soon, what little senses she had left were beginning to weaken. What was left of her was still able to feel fear at the nothingness her mind provided her with. She didn't like dreams like these, so blank, and everlasting. More than anything, she wanted to wake up. There were so many things she needed to do. She had to return her library books tomorrow, and make course lists for her second year. She wanted to watch a new movie in theatres. She wanted to see… someone… but she couldn't remember who.

As Alia dwelt in her dark dreamland, even her desires and fears began to fade, until all she knew was cold and darkness. Was this to be her tomb? She had no choice but to accept it, as she didn't know how to fight for her weakening body.

But then… then something flickered in the darkness. A flicker of warmth that felt like it came from her throat. Was it her voice, aching to cry out? No, that was clear as the warm feeling moved downward. It was comforting at first, the warmth as it lit up her chest and reminded her that her heart was still beating, that there was still life in her.

And then it began to burn.

The fire started in her heart, and as it spread through her veins, burning everything in its path, Alia felt fear for the first time that night. Every time she felt minor pain, when she stubbed her toe, or got a headache, she had the tendency to declare it the worst pain of her life.

What a joke life had been playing on her. It was nothing compared to the way that _fucking_ fire burned through every cell in her body. The worst part was that the weakness and confusion was fading. Her mind was becoming sharper, allowing her to feel everything. Death wasn't supposed to be like this, was it? The worst was supposed to be the actual impact of the accident, not the dying part.

She wondered, as she began to shriek in agony against a cool hand covering her mouth, if Christians had been right about the afterlife and she was being sent down into a fiery pit of hell. Or maybe her parents' religion was right and this was what reincarnation felt like. Alia didn't want to think about it. She didn't want any of them to be right, she just wanted it to be over. She focused her energy instead on thrashing and screaming, hoping that her body would give out on her and it would be over sooner.

Soon, as she got the strength to open her eyes amidst the agony, she vaguely registered soft voices around her, a hand stroking her hair. She couldn't understand anything she was seeing or hearing but felt that she was moving. Was she in an ambulance? Ambulances weren't so dark normally, were they? And weren't there typically sirens? It was a vehicle of some sort, that was clear, as during a particularly strong fit, her hand shattered what must have been glass. She was restrained again, and could only vent out her frustration by screeching.

Alia felt like she must have screamed her throat raw, but could still hear the sharp shrieks. She never would have thought herself capable of such volume. She really had been living a sheltered, soft life, with no real hardships before that day. At the very least, as she felt herself being moved (kicking and screaming all the while), she realised that she was not dead or dying. It was something else, even if she didn't know what that something else was.

After what felt like years of torment, of every cell in her body being burned, Alia began to _notice_. Maybe she was hallucinating, to try and distract herself from the pain, but it felt like she could hear and smell everything around her intensely. Distinctive, impossible voices from her past that felt like from a dream from how familiar they were. Footsteps of different people, around different parts of what must have been a house, from the way the noise was concentrated. So many scents, that it was confusing to try and put them all in order. The most confusing detail of all was something cool clutching her inflamed hand, steadfast. It must have been a hand, but the person it was attached to was completely silent. Alia was only sure, from the scent and the occasional movement in response to particularly violent cries of pain.

The part of her that was still self conscious was mortified at how she was reacting to the pain. A larger part of her couldn't be bothered to care and hoped that the people forced to listen to her felt even a sliver of the frustration she did. Screaming helped. It was the only thing she could do to struggle against the pain, when her body wouldn't respond the way she wanted it to.

Soon, the different footsteps around the house made their way to surround her. She soon understood why. The fire that had been consuming her began to change. Alia could have wept with relief, if it weren't for the fire instead concentrating in her chest. She clutched at where her heart was with a strangled gasp, as she felt it searing. It beat a few times, feebly, before stopping.

But… she wasn't dead. She was very much alive. She wasn't even free from pain entirely, as some lingered in her throat. Alia, after a moment of hesitation, opened her eyes.

The first thing Alia saw was the white ceiling. She gasped in amazement and had to blink a few times as she shot up in the bed she was in. She looked around the room hurriedly. Even though her head whipped around, she got a sense of everything more clearly than she had ever observed before in her life. Had Alia's prescription been wrong this entire time, and only now was given proper glasses? She felt for her face, but there were no glasses there.

And there were more pressing matters than how clearly she could see. The people in the room. She had to blink again as she noticed the first figure standing beside her bed. Golden, and more beautiful than she had ever realised. "Carlisle?" she asked, and clutched her throat in surprise at the voice that emerged. Hers, but somehow refined, like it had been autotuned. She looked back at Carlisle who was smiling at her kindly. Beside him was Esme, and behind her the rest of the Cullens. The rest of the Cullens save the one she ached to see the most. "I don't understand." she said, recoiling as Carlisle stepped closer. "What's happening to me? I had an accident— I— and I— where am I?"

"Alia." Carlisle's voice sounded different too, as if she had never heard it properly before. She jumped off the bed and was up against the wall in alarm. She should have been mortified at her behavior, but only felt panicked. Carlisle held up his hands in a gesture of peace and beside him, Esme gave her a sympathetic look. "I will explain everything, Alia." Carlisle said gently. "There's no need to be scared."

From behind, a tall figure stepped forward. It was Jasper. Alia should have recognised him and felt at ease, but she couldn't. Every visible inch of Jasper's face and neck was covered in scars. Bite marks. Involuntarily, she snarled at him, a warning for him to stay the hell away from her. That was enough for her to slap her hands over her mouth in horror. "Relax, Alia." Jasper said, apparently not deterred from her rude behavior. He put a hand on her elbow, which she flinched at, but let happen. As soon as Jasper touched her, Alia felt some of the fear vanish. She let herself be guided to sit back down on the bed.

Carlisle began to talk. Alia could only listen in mute surprise as he detailed the accident she was in. A truck driver had run a red light and hit the motorcycle she was on. Alia had been left in critical condition with several broken bones and bad head trauma. "What about May?" Alia asked, the distress returning. "Is she…"

It was Alice that spoke up. "She's in a coma. But she's going to be okay. She'll wake up in a month or so."

Alia could only stare at her. How could she know that? She was distracted from wondering by Carlisle. "Your wounds were quite serious. You were going to die, Alia, but Edward—" he paused as she shot up at the name. "—decided to turn you."

"Edward decided— but where is he? And turn me?" Alia looked at the faces in the room. "What the hell does that mean? Turn me into what?"

It was only Rosalie that stared at her unflinchingly. "Into one of us." she gestured around the room. "Into a vampire."

Alia laughed. "Yeah right." her laughter died as no one joined her, not even Alice, who looked the most solemn Alia had ever seen her. "No way. You can't be serious. Vampires aren't real."

"They're real." Emmett grinned weakly. "And you're one of them now. One of us." He echoed Rosalie's words.

"It will be easier to show you." Carlisle offered a hand, which Alia instinctively flinched at. But he kept it there, and Alia took it after some deliberation. Alice bolted off at a speed that had Alia staring with an open jaw. She was back in a mere second with a giant mirror that was comically large in her arms. Alice put it down, and Carlisle led her to it, where Alia caught a glimpse of her own reflection.

She could only stare at herself in horrified confusion. She slapped herself, the sound harsh, but when she looked back it was still the same. It was her… but like she was airbrushed. Her hair was somehow a darker black, the waves smoother than she could ever get them before. With her new vision, she should have been able to see every tiny flaw in her skin, every blemish and acne scar… but there were none on her now perfect brown skin. It was like she had undergone plastic surgery, although a plastic surgeon would have given her a nose job too. The tiniest surge of relief to see her nose still the same was undercut by the rest of her horror. Her cheeks were still round, but her jaw was different, more chiselled with her chin not being so weak anymore. She opened her mouth and saw why. It was like her jaw had realigned itself, so that she didn't have an overbite anymore with her teeth perfect and sparkling white, contrasting against her lips, which were now redder than ever.

All in all, Alia was objectively the most beautiful she had ever been.

It was terrifying.

Vampires… they had said. It was only when she looked at the feature she was avoiding that the word sank in. Her eyes kept their shape and weren't so different except for the fact that they were no longer a deep brown, but a startling, burning red. _Like blood_… she realised with despair.

She wanted to faint, but couldn't. She felt physically stronger than she ever had before. So, instead, Alia screamed and punched the mirror, shattering it and the wall behind it into a million tiny pieces.


	25. Chapter 25

Hewwo there, lovelies. I struggled a lot with this chapter, but I sat down and wrote the end of it.

Guiltypleasure82: buddy, just wait and see!

Saitama-sama : I kind of just made her remember because, yeah it'd be complicated to have memory loss. I just assumed that vampires kept their human memories, they were just fuzzier. So she's not meant to be special there. Thanks for commenting :3

ElekTroz: thanx for reading ;)

ForgeandGred4Ever: ahhhh well here ya go!

BrookeWorm3: whaaaaaaaaa?

StarGirl114: hehe

Guest: You are great!

musa22lbl: You are the sweetest. I literally can only read and write slow burn love stories. They just hit so much harder.

Hinanui98: all I will say is oohohohoho

mladshayasestraxx: here you are babey

MaluLupin: hell yeah, she's gorgeous.

...

Alia growled at the person who had grabbed her arm. In her panic, she hardly realised it was Rosalie. That certainly didn't stop her from swinging with her other arm, making Rosalie step back in a flash before the punch landed. Alia shrieked as someone grabbed her from behind and tried her best to kick against them. But the person who had grabbed her stayed there, despite all of her thrashing. She felt a sense of calm trying to encroach upon her, and pushed it away violently.

Alice moved in front of her and grabbed her hands. Alia was slightly surprised, through the red haze of rage, that Alice was able to keep hold of her hands with how petite she was. "It's okay Alia. Just relax."

It took several minutes before Alia stopped struggling, going limp against the person who could only be Jasper. It took a lot longer for her to be released and for them to coax her to sit down. "You broke your thumb." Carlisle said softly. "May I?"

Alia nodded, and looked to her lap as Carlisle took her hand in his. She didn't even notice the pain, even though her thumb was clearly at a wrong angle. Somehow, after punching through a wall, the only thing that was broken was the thumb she had clutched in her own fist. Emmett let out a laugh, like he'd been holding it in. "You never learned how to punch properly?"

She felt the anger return. "I've never needed to before!"

Emmett wasn't deterred, even though she flinched from her own tone as he knelt beside her. He made a fist. "Keep your thumb around your second and third knuckles, okay?"

"Okay." she said, trying it out with her other hand. It felt wrong, but at least it wouldn't break her thumb again. Not that it mattered, as Carlisle straightened it out, and it seemed to go right back to normal.

"The bodies of our kind are much different." Carlisle said at her further confusion. "You've noticed the strength, of course, but with that comes durability. Only another of our kind can truly hurt us, but we recover quickly, as you can see. Since you're a newborn, you will be particularly strong during your first year."

A newborn? She wasn't a fucking baby. Jasper reached to touch her shoulder, and she recoiled.

"She must be thirsty." Esme said softly, as Jasper drew his hand back. "She'll feel better after she hunts."

Alis took in those words with a newfound panic. Hunting? And vampires? Did that mean…? Had the Cullens been killing people this whole time? Worse than that thought, was the burning in her throat that got worse as soon as Esme mentioned thirst. Just the idea of quenching it, made her willing to _anything_.

"We do drink blood…" Carlisle said as Alia clutched her throat. "But our family is different from most other vampires. We've learned to subsist on animal blood."

Alia let out a miserable cry and buried her head in her hands.

"You don't have to worry." Carlisle said gently. "It is more difficult to live off of animals, and will take some getting used to, but it's certainly possible. It's like being a vegetarian."

"That's the problem!" Alia cried. "I am a vegetarian!"

There was a long pause in the air before Emmett was overcome by laughter. Alice too, was giggling. "Since when?"

"Since I started university last year." Alia said. She was dragged to one environmental protest, and couldn't even look at meat since without thinking of the cruelty with which it was prepared. It was all too easy to go vegetarian on a liberal campus. "Meat's like really bad for you, full of antibiotics and stuff."

"She's right." Rosalie said with a straight face. "Pack it up Carlisle. We may as well hunt humans now."

Emmett only laughed harder, with Alice, Jasper, and Rosalie joining in. Even Esme and Carlisle seemed to be fighting smiles. Alia couldn't help but pout. "That's not what I meant. I don't wanna hurt anyone."

"I'd hope not." Carlisle chuckled. "At least, you don't need to worry about the animals we hunt. It's all local wildlife."

Alia only frowned unhappily. That had a whole other host of problems, but she didn't want to make it seem like she was making excuses to eat people.

She luckily didn't have to think much anymore, as Jasper, Alice, and Emmett took her to go satisfy the thirst that was only getting worse.

She quickly overcame the shock of the new movement she was capable of, how the world slowed around her, it being replaced with delight at how different and strange and beautiful the world had become with her new senses. Processing all of this was going to take a while, but it felt much better to be out in the woods that were new and familiar.

As they ran through the woods, Alice at her arm, and Emmett leading the _hunt _(Alia still shivered at the word), the three of them explained more about vampires and hunting carefully, gauging her reaction to information. "Your eyes look a little scary now, but they'll go back to your natural colour in about a year…. Well… except under sunlight."

"Do we… will I burn under sunlight."

They laughed at that, and Alia felt that anger again, until Jasper met her eyes and she felt herself calming down. "No, silly. That's just a myth." Alice smiled brightly. "Sunlight will just make you look more… uh… vampirish, but it won't hurt you."

So that was why they lived in one of the rainiest places in the world. They explained more, about other vampires, and different sects living around the world. Alia had just learned that werewolves apparently existed too, when she caught a new scent in the air.

Alia ceased hearing except for a tantalising heartbeat and the sound of something _delicious _flowing. She sprinted past Alice, Jasper, and Emmett and to what was calling her, a stag, Alia realised as she snapped it in half and tore through its neck with her teeth like biting into a marshmallow. As soon as the first drop of blood reached her lips, she sobbed and drained the animal gluttonously, feeling the blood nourish her dry, parched throat. It didn't taste the best, or most filling, but she drank it all the same. When it was dry, she threw it aside and licked her fingers desperately, until Emmett held out another carcass, this one a doe, already dead. Alia took it with a growl and drained that one too. It was only after that that she looked down and saw the mess she had made of herself.

The white dress that she had been put in was torn at the bottom of the skirt and splattered with blood like she was at a crime scene. Well, she was in a way, she realised. "So much for being a vegetarian." she muttered, looking sadly at the deer bodies. She looked at the others to see they had hunted as well, but only one each. "I'm sorry." she said, ashamed, as she thought of her behavior. It felt gross, acting like a feral animal.

"Don't worry, kiddo. It takes some getting used to." Emmett beamed at her. Alia saw that all of them looked flawless and unruffled, though they had drunk blood too.

"You're a lot calmer, now at least." Jasper said. "Your emotions are going to be… intense for your first year as a newborn as you learn to control your thirst. Don't feel guilty about it. It happened to all of us."

"Okay…" Alia said quietly, trying her best to wipe her mouth of blood and dirt. "Okay."

As they ran back, with Alia feeling a lot better, they told her more about vampires. "So speed, strength, and crazy good senses?" Alia asked incredulously. "Anything else I should know about?"

She was joking and wasn't expecting the sudden silence. Her smile fell from her face as Alice looked at her. "Well, um… some of us have extra abilities. For example, I can see the future."

Alia could only listen in stunned silence as Alice explained her ability, of looking into future possibilities, all based on decisions. That was how they had sensed Alia's accident, but weren't able to prevent it altogether. "Jasper…" Alice said hesitantly. "Can sense and control people's emotions."

The three of them looked at Alia like she was going to lunge for Jasper's throat. And honestly, she felt a little bit tempted to. So that was why she had always felt comfortable around Jasper, why he made her feel calm. He was doing it on purpose and she'd never noticed. Of course she felt betrayed, but she only let out a laugh. It came out more bitter than she intended. "What can you do, Emmett?"

Emmett grinned uneasily. "Nothing actually. Perfectly normal vampire here." Alia snorted at that. "So's everyone else… except for…uh..."

Somehow Alia already knew from the way they were acting. "Edward."

As soon as she said his name, all the feelings she had been suppressing came pouring into her. Pain, love, sadness, rage. The reason for everything he did to hurt her… she understood suddenly. And it only made her angrier. "Calm down, Alia."

"Don't tell me to calm down!" Alia snapped at Jasper. "And don't manipulate my emotions! That's seriously fucked up! I— oh God, I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Jasper said, face full of nothing but understanding. "I can't help sensing emotions if they're strong, but I'll ask from now on before I influence your emotions, okay?"

"Okay." Alia swallowed. "I'm sorry." she said again.

"Don't be." Alice said, putting a hand on her arm. "It's a lot to take in and we all understand that."

"Where is Edward?" Alia asked, making them all still. "I want to see him. I have to see him. And I know he's around." If he had turned her, and brought her back, then he must have been the one holding her hand. He wouldn't have just left. "Where is he?" she asked again, a note of desperation in her voice.

Alice made a few funny facial expressions, wincing every few seconds. She turned to Jasper and Emmett. "Yeah, there's no way for this to end well. But we can't change her mind." she looked back to Alia. "Let's clean you up first. Then you can see Edward."

Alia nodded. They went back to the house, and Alice gave her a change of clothes that were Esme's, who was the closest to her size. As she showered off the blood and grime, she heard discussion around the house. "Not a good idea…" "Edward will come when he's ready…" "She's hunted, she should be fine…" "Can't avoid this forever…" "I kind of want to see her beat him up…" "_Rosalie_…!"

Once she was dressed, she ran to the scent that she now associated with Alice. She was waiting outside the house. "Where is he?"

Alice hesitated, and looked over her shoulder to where Carlisle stood with a worried expression. Alia was worried he'd disapprove, but he only sighed and nodded. "Okay. Let's go."

Alia ran behind Alice, realising they were following a scent. It was Edward. Of course it was Edward, she knew his scent well enough. She always thought it was some sort of cologne that lingered on the jackets she'd borrowed, or that she caught after hugging him. But it was just him. It had always been him.

She realised they were walking up a familiar path. Alice stopped just before the trail diverged. "He's up ahead. You… probably know where. I'll wait here."

Alia nodded to her thankfully before going up the mountain trail, around a bunch of trees, until she caught sight of the outcrop. Her heart ached to see the familiar sight… the skyline with its trees and mountains. She got closer and saw the tree used as a bench, moss growing along its sides. The wild roses they'd planted were overgrown, filling up all the empty space around and encroaching on the nearby trees, filling the air with sweetness.

And in front of the bench, with his back facing her, was him. "Edward." It came out breathlessly.

He turned, and Alia felt everything freeze. Had Edward always looked like this? Like the other Cullens, she was seeing him for the first time, seeing how truly flawless he was. But there was grief on his face, that fought with the beauty. He looked at her, and she saw he wasn't surprised, only saddened.

He didn't say anything so Alia approached. "Hey."

That broke through the icy wall he'd put up. "_Hey?_"

"What'd'you want me to say?" Alia snapped. "Long time no see? Nice running into you again? _What's up_?" She strode up to him so they were face to face. "How about fuck you?!"

"That's more what I was expecting." Edward said softly. His hand twitched like he wanted to reach for her, but he kept it firmly glued to his side. "Alia, I can't tell you how sorry I am. I never wanted you—"

_Yeah, you never wanted me_... she thought bitterly.

Edward flinched but continued. "I never wanted you to become one of us. I wanted you to have a good life, not corrupted like this."

Alia didn't understand one bit. "I'm not mad at you for turning me into a vampire, you idiot." she said at last. "It's better than being roadkill."

Something in Edward snapped at that. "And just what were you thinking, getting on that motorcycle? Did you have a death wish?"

"Oh…" Alia laughed wildly. "No… You are not blaming me for my accident."

"No… I… I'm sorry."

"Damn right you are. Anyway, you should know why I'm pissed."

Edward nodded. His gaze flickered to her eyes, before away quickly. "I lied to you. I didn't tell you about us, but selfishly insisted on being your friend anyway."

Alia felt anger course through her hands. "No, I also get why you couldn't tell me. It's a pretty big secret. Edward…" _Did you even read my letter_?

Edward's eyes widened. "The letter? No— I—"

And then he froze. They both froze. Alia let out a short breath and looked at him. Really looked at him. All the guilt, all the self flagellation… This wasn't just about the topic of vampires. Edward didn't flinch away from her gaze, and she could see resignation on his face.

"Edward…" Alia's voice was dangerously low. "What is your ability?"

Edward let out a bitter laugh and bowed his head, as if waiting for a guillotine to strike it off. "You already guessed it."

The next thing she knew, they were falling. Alia had pushed Edward off of the cliff, and they were falling several feet to the ground below. She registered his grunt of surprise, and then the thud as they fell. Edward had shielded her with his body, but it didn't matter much as Alia began raining her fists down on him.

"YOU FUCKING BASTARD!"

...

Cliffhanger? I do that a lot...

I hope my little story brings you a little joy in this mess of a world we're in.


	26. Chapter 26

Heyyy! Trigger warning: potential suicidal thoughts and talk of mental illness.

I'm so glad you all enjoyed the last chapter and found the ending funny. Honestly, it was cathartic for me, and I really wanted to capture Alia's sheer rage at the situation she woke up to.

This chapter... is a continuation.

...

Edward lay there in silence as Alia straddled him, her eyes flaming. Even though she knew she didn't need to breathe anymore, her every breath was heavy. Every secret, every private thought, every _embarrassing_ thought… he had known them all. This whole time. Was he keeping silent and staying around her because of some sick sense of humor for all this time? Had he enjoyed making a complete fool out of her? Laughing at her behind her back to whatever stupid thing went through her head?

"No… Alia…" he finally spoke up… in response to her thoughts.

"Shut up!" she punched him again. Edward only grunted at the hit.

"You knew everything the whole time! Why?! Why why why why _why_?!" she hit him anew at every word. It was the worst betrayal Alia had ever known. It was the angriest she'd ever been.

But the worst thing was that Edward wasn't resisting her fists. He was staring at her with a look like he wanted to be hit. Like he deserved it. It made Alia freeze overtop of him.

"I do deserve your anger." Edward said, voice a whisper. "It's more than warranted."

Alia's fist twitched but she didn't strike him again. The rage dissipated somewhat, being replaced with shame and horror. It was completely unlike her to resort to violence, and all the worse hitting someone who wasn't defending themselves.

"You don't get to feel bad." Edward furrowed his brow. He was getting upset over her _not_ hitting him. Really?

"Really." Edward took her hand and placed it around his neck, his skin smooth as silk. "Kill me if you want. I won't resist." He squeezed her hand to emphasise his point and she gasped. He looked up at her, and his eyes were cold.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Alia asked, voice shaking. She should have been crying but there was no familiar sting in her eyes. "How could you say something like that?" Was he suicidal?

"No, I don't think so." And the smile that bloomed across his face broke her heart. "You're amazing, you know. Feeling bad for me after I betrayed you for all these years. After I broke your heart and ruined your life. I'm not suicidal, but I'd happily die at your hands."

She could only stare at him, horror growing. Before she could do anything else, snap at him, or scream, Alice burst through the trees. Alia and Edward looked up at her, and Carlisle and Rosalie who followed behind. Alia immediately pictured the sight they were greeted with. Her over Edward, legs around his waist and her hand wrapped around his neck.

Alia let herself be pulled from Edward and watched as he swatted away Carlisle's attempts to check on him for any serious wounds. Alia saw an imprint on his pale neck, and felt like laughing hysterically. It was from the ring on her hand that she was unable to take off.

Rosalie and Alice took her away from that stretch of woods, with both keeping hands on her arms as if she would snap and start attacking at any moment. She couldn't blame them. She still felt anger coursing through her. But it wasn't the same as before. She felt more in control.

"Hey…" she finally spoke up as they neared the Cullen house. Rosalie and Alice looked at her and she continued. "Could you tell Edward that he doesn't need to avoid the house because of me. I'll keep out of his way." Before Alice could open her mouth to argue, Alia continued. "I don't want to see him right now. I need to think."

"Okay." Rosalie agreed. "Come on."

It took a while for Carlisle and Edward to return. When they did, Edward shut himself in his room. Alia could hear the others go and talk to him in muffled voices, probably purposely quiet for her new hearing. Whatever the case was, Alia was glad that he wouldn't be running from his own family anymore.

Over the next few days, Alia went through a lot. It was hard to get used to being a _vampire_ (she still flinched at that word). She felt everything so strongly, and was overcome with fits over every distressing realisation. The world had assumed her dead after her disappearance at the hospital. She would never be able to see her family again, or her friends. When she was told that her parents were having a small memorial for her, and that she wasn't allowed to go, Alia had panicked, before coming to and seeing another wall she'd destroyed.

Jasper held true to his word, and didn't influence her emotions. Even though they were painful, they were hers and Alia wanted to feel them completely. She did apologize meekly to Esme for the destruction of the house, and felt even worse when Esme hugged her tightly and told her that it was completely okay.

That was kind of what made everything a bit better. Even though she wasn't talking to a certain someone, the other Cullens kept her sane. She learned a lot about vampires over the next few days. She should have been overwhelmed by the information, but knowledge had always served to ground Alia. The most shocking part was learning about how old the rest of the Cullens were. The youngest was Emmett, who still happened to be as old as her grandparents. With Edward, a lot of the way he was suddenly made sense. He acted like a brooding Victorian hero because he had been born within a few decades of the Victorian era.

Honestly, Alia felt like a moron for not noticing the obvious signs that the Cullens were at least some sort of supernatural beings, if not directly vampires. They were never around whenever there was a hint of sunlight. Edward had made excuses for not eating, but Alia realised that she had never seen any of the Cullens eat. They acted far too put together and graceful for teenagers… Yeah, she was an idiot. Maybe the human mind just rejected anything that contradicted what it knew to be real. And yet, Alia was hurt because she had always prided herself on being an imaginative and creative person. At the very least, she should have pieced it together instead of taking Edward at his word.

How could she not, though? He had never given her a reason to doubt him. Until now.

Alia, of course, had a lot of thoughts about Edward and what to do about him. How to react. At first, she was stuck in a mortified rage. He knew how she had felt about him as soon as she had realised she'd loved him. Hell, they all probably knew with Jasper's gift. It wasn't _fair_.

But, Esme had explained more about Edward's ability, defending him since he was unwilling to do it himself. The mind reading was involuntary. For Edward, it was like constantly being in a room with everyone talking at once. He could tune stuff out, but with someone right in front of him, it was impossible to ignore.

Then Alia's anger shifted. He couldn't control it and he couldn't tell her about it. Fine. Then why was he acting like such a self-flagellating shit? Why run away by making her cry last summer? Why make her assume he hated her? Why would he say such horrible stuff about being okay with her killing him?

She knew why, of course. It was the way he was. He was self centered, but also selfless. He'd rather take the blame and burden for everything himself instead of let anyone in. She could see it in the way his family treated him, in the way they spoke about him. She remembered how Edward had coaxed her into seeing someone for her mental health and wondered how he'd react to her doing the same. Did he even know that he had an unhealthy amount of self loathing? When she asked Carlisle, he only looked at her sadly.

"Edward has always struggled the most with the change." he said in a soft voice that Alia was sure she wouldn't have been able to hear if she were still human. She believed Edward wouldn't be able to hear from his corner of the house either. "He believes he's damned."

Alia resisted the urge to comment on how stupid that was, especially with how serious Carlisle looked. She had never been that affected by religion, with both her parents practically being atheists. She recognised that she couldn't understand how growing up with all that stuff about hell and damnation would affect someone's views on the whole vampire thing.

"You bring up depression." Carlisle said. "I think he was depressed for some time. It took my other children little time to find companions, with Edward always being the odd one out. With his gift, I think it made it harder for him to connect with anyone. He got so much better when he became friends with you."

Emotion clogged Alia's throat. "That's not healthy. He can't just— Was he going to just stay depressed his whole immortal life as soon as I went away?" She couldn't even begin to touch on how messed up it was that Carlisle was implying that the only potential way for someone to be happy was finding a partner.

Carlisle seemed to pick up on it. "You're young, Alia. As the years go on, it gets lonely without a companion. A true companion. I was alone for centuries, and felt it more with every passing day. Edward… found a friend in you. Someone he could be himself around and that helped him. More than you can know."

"It's not my job to fix him." Alia said simply. "He needs to take responsibility for his own happiness, and stop being so— so— ugh. What am I even saying? I know it's not that easy."

"No." Carlisle said. And Alia was surprised to see that he was smiling at her. "But I think he's already begun taking steps towards the right direction. Because of you."

Alia could only nod at him. With that conversation, her mind was swirling with even more confusion regarding Edward. She shifted between anger, and something decidedly sadder. Time was a good thing, however. And... when she felt her anger fade enough to think rationally, she made a decision.

It was time for them to talk.

...

So this was not an angle I was originally planning. But when I wrote that confrontation, Edward's remark popped into my head and I thought, hey isn't it kind of fucked how Edward is clearly depressed and has a really unhealthy view of himself and Meyer expects the power of love to fix that? Like we spend a lot of time talking about how the relationship in Twilight is unhealthy for Bella, without considering how it affects Edward. Like homeboy picks the first girl he has a connection with and decides that she's the reason for his existence. I get that teen girls like that in broody romantic leads, but it just grosses me out. Especially as a person with depression. It is my firm belief that you can't fix your problems with a relationship. Sorry, rant over. This has been my too late Twilight opinion of the week.


	27. Chapter 27

Beep boop. Here's the next chapter. I did my best, and that's all I can do.

marsolino: Yes! So Alia is 19 when she is turned. So, this is the summer after her first year of university.

TaTa B-P: Thank you so much! Mental health is really important to me, as someone with both depression and anxiety. This chapter has some more elements of that!

I hope you all enjoy this chapter. After 26 chapters of build up, it's finally here! The moment you've been waiting for!

...

After assuring Carlisle she would be calm, and having a hurried conversation with Alice, who had clearly seen what would result from her decision (though her new sister didn't answer any questions and bounded away with a giggle), she marched up to Edward's room. She heard him breathe in sharply, before he opened the door to stare at her with wide green eyes. "Edward. Let's talk. Outside? Bring the letter I wrote, cause I know you still haven't read it."

Alia stode out of the house with confidence that surprised even her. She hummed to herself as she walked, pleasantly surprised that becoming a vampire had made her singing voice so much more tolerable. She idly wondered if any celebrities were vampires and heard Edward snort from behind her.

"C'mon, you know it could be true." she said, stopping at what she realised was a familiar oak tree. It looked so much smaller than she had remembered it. She didn't climb up its branches, but stood in front of it and turned around.

Edward stood there, looking as if he was preparing for a battle. Alia sighed and began to talk, before he could get everything from her mind.

"I'm still pissed." she said bluntly. "Really pissed. I thought about the best way to get back at you and I've decided." she grinned dangerously. "I forgive you."

"_What?!_" Edward blurted out, almost before she even got the words out.

"You heard me." Alia said, her speech moving faster from passion and nerves. "I'll never forget the way you acted, but I'm choosing to forgive you anyways. You don't get to be the sad, misunderstood villain in this story, okay. We are going to communicate and heal our relationship. No more running away. You have to deal with your shit... but you don't have to do it alone."

He was staring at her with his mouth agape, as if she had just told him that she was an alien. But with his gift, there was no way for him to take her the wrong way. "You're serious." He finally said weakly. "How are you serious? After everything I've done…"

"What I don't get Edward…" Alia snapped. "Is what you think you'll get from pushing me away, even now. It won't fix the pain you caused me… or the pain you caused yourself. You turned me into a vampire, so you gotta deal with the consequences."

Alia smiled at him smugly as she watched him process all of that. What she actually found satisfying was that she didn't need to censor herself or her feelings knew them all anyway, so she could say them all out loud. It was freeing in a way.

She waited for him to say something. He finally did, fixing her with a disbelieving look. "I… I don't understand."

"Okay, I'll spell it out for you. Either tell me you hate me and don't want to be around me anymore, or actually fucking earn my forgiveness."

Edward laughed then, and Alia found herself grinning too. It had been so long since she'd heard that sound. "Alia… you're too good to me."

"Someone has to be mature here." she said.

"You're right." he said. "Honestly… I didn't expect this. I knew you were reckless, but I didn't expect you to ever talk to me again. I don't know where to go from here." And he had such a hopelessly confused look on his face, that Alia couldn't help but laugh again. He smiled too, but it was in a nervous way as if he expected her to change her mind.

"Edward…" Alia felt her breathing hitch. It was nice that even as a vampire, she could still feel nervousness so humanly. "Hand me that letter. I wanna read it to you. Actually no. Read it yourself, I'll wait."

He hesitated before he drew the envelope from his jacket. It was still immaculately sealed, and Alia could detect a faint trace that had her confused and hungry at the same time. Her own scent. Her own human scent lingered on that letter. But maybe because it was her own scent, it didn't provoke that blood frenzy she'd felt around the deer.

She watched him read the letter, watching the expressions that flickered across his face, trying to read them the way he read her mind. When he was done, he looked at her, emotion swimming in his eyes. The letter fluttered to the forest floor. "Alia—"

"I still mean it." she said, summoning all her courage. "I love you, Edward. Still, even after afterything. There are no conditions, kay. I'll love you as much as you let me, and I don't need anything back."

He grabbed her hand tightly, and Alia felt the smallest stirring of hope. "Can I talk now?" she nodded hurriedly, and he let out a breath. "This whole time you've been thinking… even now, you think that we're leagues apart. You're right in a way. You've always been too good for me to even think of… of wanting."

"Don't say that." Alia couldn't stop herself from interrupting. "No more self-deprecation."

"I can't help it." Edward let out a laugh that sounded half-crazed. "That's the way I've always thought. But I have to clear this stupid misunderstanding. I love you too, you idiot. How could I not? I've loved you just as long, if not longer. I want you just as badly."

Alia felt like crying, but no tears came. Vampires couldn't cry, she reminded herself. "Even though I love you Edward, I hate you so fucking much. Why the hell did we waste so much time?"

Before he could offer an explanation, of why he wanted to protect her soul or some bullshit, she pulled her hand from his, grabbed his face with both hands and kissed him. He was frozen against her lips, and she was half-afraid, when she pulled away, that he didn't want it. "Wrong again." he said breathlessly, pulling her to him flush and kissing her furiously. She should have been dizzy, but only felt every sensation acutely. "Idiot." he muttered against her lips.

"Moron." she retorted.

"My love." she was struck speechless at that and Edward grinned at her in a way she hadn't seen in so long, that crooked grin. Alia threw her arms around him again, and held him close. He held her just as tightly. Alia could have stood there forever. It felt completely right, being held by Edward and holding him back in a way she'd never dared to before. _Mine_. _I can't believe he's mine._

Edward shook against her, and she realised it was laughter. She tightened her grip, and he breathed in sharply. "Uh… Alia? Could you…"

"What?"

"Well… uh… you're stronger than me right now, love."

Alia jumped back. "Sorry! Sorry!"

But Edward was smiling at her in a way that told her he wasn't mad. They sat themselves down by the tree and basked in each other's company in relative silence, holding hands, and occasionally stealing kisses.

Finally, Alia spoke, even though she was loath to break the peace. "So… If we're gonna be _together_, I have two conditions. But uh, using the word 'condition' feels weird. Like they aren't dealbreakers or anything, but I think they're important moving forward. I mean that's assuming you even want to..."

Edward kissed her hard, halting her doubt in its tracks. "Okay." she smiled stupidly. "Okay. First. You need therapy." Edward opened his mouth to protest, but Alia covered it with her hand. He glared at her in a way that was completely endearing. "You have issues, Edward. You know that better than anyone. You helped me get help, right?"

"It's not the same." he said, when Alia pulled her hand away.

Alia shrugged. "You're right. We have different problems, but they aren't less important than each other. Just cause you've been dealing with it alone for so long doesn't mean you have to forever. Could it hurt to try?"

Edward looked away, and Alia took his hand. "I'm not gonna force you, obviously. I'm telling you this cause I love you." It still felt good to say. "You said I wasn't stupid for getting help, right? Why can't the same apply to you? It's okay if it takes time, I just want you to try caring about yourself."

He was silent for a long minute. Alia could see him thinking and wished she had his ability. She breathed a sigh of relief when Edward nodded. "I'll give it a shot. I aim to be worthy of you, but I can't promise I'll ever be pleasant to be around."

She gave him a look at that, and he smiled, kissing her hand. "Sorry. What's the second condition?"

"The mind reading." Edward's smile fell and she squeezed his hand to reassure him. "I'm not going to pretend it doesn't make me uncomfortable. It'll take some time for me to get used to it. I've been thinking… since I know you can't really control it… all I can ask is that you don't hold my thoughts against me."

Edward looked at their hands, and was quieter when he spoke. "Of course. With reading minds, I know better than anyone that the first thought through someone's head doesn't necessarily represent them. And I could never hold anything against you, after all you've given me. Your mind is one of the loveliest I've ever known."

Alia couldn't help but wince. "Yeah… but I don't wanna feel any more self conscious than I already do about my thoughts. If I need my space, will you give me it?"

"Of course." Edward said solemnly. "I'm sorry."

"No more apologising." Alia grumbled, nuzzling against him. "There's no need. Not between us."

"Is that a third condition?"

Alia kissed him to shut him up.

...

It's very rare that I'll write a romantic story and actually make it to the 'getting together' part because I just draw out the slow burn infinitely. But I did it! They kissed, so that's an accomplishment lol! There will still be more after this, because everything's obviously not resolved yet. Tell me your thoughts. I love to hear them :3

Also, I thought about writing out the letter, but I didn't want to. I think you can get a sense of what it said from their reactions.


	28. Chapter 28

Gabbstterr: I know right! Ahhh!

marsolino: And thank you for reading up until now!

Ellixwolf: You're so sweet! It means a lot, because pacing is something I always struggle with.

Beatsie-Boy: I am of Indian descent, yup.

Guest: Your squeals are adding years to my life, so don't stop!

LethyNeves: Yeah, babey! Finally!

musa22lbl: Thank you! Yeah no, no one ever gets magically fixed by relationships, they can only like push your issues to the back for a bit imo.

CarolynWolfe: You are going to really love this chapter then. I'm still so happy that you liked the chapter without the letter, now you can like it with. :3

Soo, I was really mad at myself for publishing the last chapter without writing the letter. I decided to remedy that and edit the chapter with the letter, but then the letter kind of got away from me, and now I decided to make it its own chapter?! This is the end result, and I gotta say, I'm actually happy with it, short as it is. I hope you all enjoy it too. I feel much better getting this out before moving forward.

...

Attempt 1:

_Dear Edward,_

_I don't think I'm allowed to call you dear, am I? Or am I overthinking it? Wow, I'm already overthinking the first word of this stupid letter I'm writing you. I had a point, I swear. Fuck. Shit. Messed this one up. Nevermind._

Attempt 2:

_Edward,_

_Okay, that just sounds cold, or like I'm mad at you. I mean, I am mad at you, but I don't want it to seem like I'm mad at you. Damn it. I've been trying to think of something to say for two hours and I messed this one up too._

Attempt 3:

_To whom it may concern,_

_Nope. NOPE. Fuck that._

Attempt 4:

_Dear Edward,_

_It has only been a week since you last came over, so I thought I'd write to you, if that's okay._

_What's been hurting me the most about what's happened is that I don't understand why. I've always worried that our friendship has been one-sided, that you've been more of a friend to me than I have to you. For that, I am so so sorry. Please know that whatever I did wrong, I'm sorry for it. I can be a better friend. Or if I was too clingy or too obvious with how I felt for you, I can ease off and give you space and we can still be friends. Just please—_

Attempt 5:

_Dear Edward,_

_I've decided that I'm going to university in September and I wanted to write to you, to get my feelings in order before I go._

_I've thought about it a lot, questioning what I did to warrant such treatment from you. But you know what? You really hurt me. I'm not going to apologize after that. You really fucking hurt me. I know it gives away how desperate I am to tell you this, but you are one of the most important people in my life, up there with my parents, and way past my siblings who never gave a shit about me. None of them could ever hurt me in the way you did. So thanks for ripping my heart out of my chest, you dick. You might have your secret reasons, because after thinking about it, the ones you gave me sound like complete bullshit, but that doesn't help ease the pain you caused me. So thanks, you ass—_

Attempt 6:

_Dear Edward,_

_I've thought long and hard before writing this letter and think I've finally figured out what I want to say. So, here I go._

_I am going to university in September. It's only in Washington. I'm not even leaving the state. I bring this up, in case you ever want to visit. Is that presumptuous of me? Probably? But hear me out, okay._

_Edward. I've never been brave enough to say it out loud, so I'm saying it on paper._

_I love you._

_I've loved you for a really long time. You're completely out of my league in every single way, but that hasn't stopped me. Sorry. The fact that you hurt me by deciding to cut off our friendship doesn't change my feelings._

_This might be a bit of a random tangent, but when I was little, there was this book that my Dad used to read to me and my sister. It's about this baby bear and a mama bear, where the baby bear breaks his mom's favourite china honey bowl, and before he confesses his crime, asks if she'll still love him even if he does terrible things. The mama bear patiently tells the baby bear that she'll always love him, but he has to deal with the consequences whenever he does something wrong. It's a happy ending of course. The mama bear isn't too mad and the baby bear makes his mom a new honey bowl and it's all very sweet. I don't know why, but I couldn't stop thinking about this story for the past few days. Obviously, there are issues in comparing us to this story— we're not bears, you're not my mother, and this is way less serious than honey bowls._

_My point, Edward, is that I will always love you. As a friend, as something more. In the way that I did before you broke the figurative honey bowl, and now, after. You really hurt me and our friendship, but I'm going to be stubborn and tell you that the relationship is still there, if you ever want to reach out and try to fix it._

_But I've also decided that I'm not going to chase after you. This letter is me reaching out a hand. What I want to be clear about is that this is in no way me trying to pressure you into returning my feelings. I was happy to be your friend even with my feelings, and I'll be happy to be your friend again someday, if only you' meet me halfway._

_So, this was a long way of me asking you to reach out someday, Edward. It doesn't matter how long it takes. I'm going to maintain hope that we'll meet again, and that we can get better._

_And if you don't want to, that it's okay. That you can know that I'm out there somewhere and I'll always love you._

_Yours,_

_Alia_


	29. Chapter 29

Heyo, guess who's back!

It turns out writing can be hard sometimes, even when you sit and stare at your word document for hours. But here it is!

MaluLupin: That was the goal :3

Guest: No YOU'RE super cute! Thank you so much!

GuestMG: Thank you! I totally feel content writing this, so I get it! With representation, it's not that hard which is so frustrating because mainstream media forgets that minorities are just normal people, but with slightly different experiences.

marsolino: hehe, yeah in those first days it was hard for Alia to not just cuss him out for several pages.

Gabbstterr: yeahhhh!

Guest: Thank you! T_T I do plan on writing for the rest of my life, in whatever capacity I'm able to.

Therona: your reactions are putting a stupid smile on my face, so thank you! As for your last question, I'm planning on answering it soon hehe

Courtney-Tamara: Thank you for your sweet words and feedback! I definitely do rush through some parts and could have developed some more relationships better (I'm especially conscious of the other Cullens and Alia's family). With the nature of this story, I kind of want to get the base story done, and then come back and edit and add before I completely overwhelm myself and run out of steam.

VolvicBabe: No, you are wonderful! Thank you for reading!

...

The next few months were some of the most beautiful and strange of Alia's life. She did still count it as her life. She insisted on believing that she was still alive, because she wasn't as cynical as Edward.

She had Edward again. That would have been enough for her, truly, to have him back in her life and to have even a sliver of their previous closeness. But she got so much more this time. No longer did Alia have to worry about being too much or too little for him, about hiding her feelings. They were out in the open, liberating her (even if she was still a little bitter). The main difference, of course, was that his feelings were apparent to her now.

Edward loved Alia. Just as much as she loved him. The thing that had shadowed their friendship, that Alia hadn't even been aware of until it broke apart, had lifted. It wasn't as if they could pick up where they had left off, as if things hadn't changed. They had. In every conceivable way. But they were able to start somewhere, a place Alia was happy with.

Alia didn't expect for it to take dying to get a boyfriend, but there she was.

She was worried it would be overwhelming or embarrassing, especially with the rest of the Cullens knowing everything. But the genuine care they showed made it difficult for Alia to mind. Everyone was just so happy for her and Edward, and so accepting of her into their family, though Alia knew it was a lot to suddenly get saddled with. Her heart still ached for her first family, but it hurt a bit less playing video games with Emmett, or talking and sharing her burdens to Esme, or being taught about the supernatural by Carlisle. Rosalie even let her hang around with her when she was in her workshop, building cars and bikes (which Alia was so impressed by when she found out, she couldn't stop praising her for two days straight). And Jasper turned out to love history, having several degrees in the subject, leading them to have several long winded discussions that made Alia not miss being in school too much.

Alia didn't even complain too much when Alice came back after disappearing for two weeks with a truck packed with designer clothing in her size. Alice had circumvented her protests by gleefully explaining how she had been manipulating the stock market for decades to keep the Cullens filthy rich. After that, Alia was more worried about how the economy was being affected by Alice's blatant wealth hacking than about being spoiled. Since she was stuck in the house, it was nice to have everyone trying so hard to make her comfortable.

But despite their efforts to help ease the transition, her second life also proved challenging. Alia had hoped that the thirst would become bearable over time, that it was only a temporary obstacle that she could get used to like when she had decided to forgo all meat only the previous year. But the lure of blood was more powerful than anything that she had experienced as a human. Even the drugs she'd seen some of her friends use never prompted such a thoughtless frenzy. Alia understood why her new family was careful to watch her and keep her secluded away from any potential victims. With the way she reacted to hunting animals, Alia was terrified to know what being around people would do.

She and Edward spent a lot of their time in the woods (though they had to be very careful and stick to the areas close to the house to avoid people). This meant that they ended up in their treehouse more often than not, reading with each other or cuddling. Often both at the same time. It was grounding, those sweet hours with Edward in the treehouse, a bit of normalcy in the strange new world she was in.

And did it ever prove stranger and stranger. One day, when they were running back to the house (racing, as it often turned out with the two of them), the clouds separated in the sky, letting a beam of sunlight illuminate Edward clearly.

Alia didn't scream. It was Edward; he could never scare her. But she did freeze in her tracks and just stare at him in awed confusion.

His hair remained the same hue, that comforting bronze. But everything else… clearly explained why they couldn't be in the sunlight. All the colour was bleached from his skin, leaving it a cold white. The paleness made all the shadows on his face too prominent, too sharp, slashing his cheeks and bruising under his eyes. And those eyes… they were no longer green, but as blood red as Alia's.

Edward smiled and that familiar gesture brought her back to reality. Alia reached for his mouth, and poked around. "What? No fangs?"

"I'll show you fangs." He lunged for her playfully and she danced around his arm with a laugh.

Alia did settle for wrapping her arms around him from behind and nuzzling her face against the material of his sweater. "It's not that bad." she said. "We could still go out in the sun during Halloween, right?"

She could _sense_ Edward raising his brows. "It's not like you can eat candy anymore."

"Don't remind me!" she cried. The worst thing about being a vampire had to be not being able to eat any of her favorite foods anymore. Now there was only one thing on the menu, and it only _just_ did the job. She groaned loudly. "I miss chocolate! And soda! And if I think about pizza too hard, I'll cry!" _Don't even say it. I know it's impossible, but I'll find a way!_

The momentum of their race was broken, so they shifted to walking. It felt weird, slowing down, when she knew she could outrun most cars. But it wasn't as if they were in any rush.

Edward kept glancing at her as they walked hand in hand. She knew he knew what she was debating with herself, but didn't address it. After a few minutes had passed, she huffed. "I want to see."

He squeezed her hand and began to lead her to the sound of running water. She loved him for not asking if she was sure. Because she wasn't. She was only stubborn.

Alia took a deep breath she didn't need before she forced herself to look at the face reflected in the clear brook.

Considering that she had avoided looking at her reflection after the initial disastrous incident, it wasn't too bad. Instead of her skin going white like Edward's, it had turned ashen taupe under the sunlight, more gray than brown. Coupled with the startling red of her eyes, Alia looked like a proper vampire. It was more comforting to focus on the unsettling aspects of her new appearance instead of the perfect ones. She never thought that she'd one day rather be scary than beautiful, but life had a way of being surprising.

"I know it doesn't mean much…" Edward said in a low voice, drawing her away from staring transfixed at her reflection. "But you were always beautiful."

Alia wished she could take that as a compliment, but it only made her more angsty. "Does that mean you don't like the way I look now?"

Edward's red eyes widened. He was about to answer when Alia waved her hands frantically. "That wasn't fair of me! I know what you meant. I just…" Her emotions were churning in her gut, angry and frustrated and shameful. "I _hate _the way I look. I don't want to be beautiful. It's like backwards vanity? If that makes sense? I was so used to being average— which I totally was and that's okay!" she said as Edward opened his mouth to argue with her assessment. "I was average! I made peace with how I looked and now I look like— I feel like a stranger. Like I have to start all over again. And that just makes me _angry_."

Alia considered apologising for the way she felt, but she had spent too much time trying to break that habit to revert back, especially when she was fully justified in her feelings. It wasn't _fair _that she had spent her entire life feeling ugly and undesirable, to put in hard work in therapy to gain self confidence, to stare enviously at naturally pretty girls, only for that aspect of herself to no longer be true.

Edward, to her relief, didn't seem to take her words personally. She was always worried, especially after their initial struggle, that if she didn't act like everything was okay all the time, that he would consider it a personal failing, like turning her meant he was responsible for every hardship she ever faced. While there was a bit of that (Edward had spent most of his life weighed down by unnecessary guilt, and that habit couldn't be kicked all at once), they talked about it now. And even if they disagreed, Alia could be comforted by the fact that he finally trusted her to be honest.

He did frown ever so slightly at her thoughts, but didn't draw attention to them. Instead, he pressed her hand to his mouth. She sighed at the feeling of his lips against her skin. "How you're feeling is only natural. I was angry too… when Carlisle changed me." Edward admitted.

"Tell me about it?" she asked, always eager to learn any new scrap of information about him. "If you're up for it?"

Edward smiled at her, and no sunlight could rob him of his warmth at that moment. He did sober up as he looked at their entwined hands."Even before… when I was human… I knew people found me attractive. But after the change, when I got even more so to humans…"

"The mind reading." Alia cringed on his behalf.

He grimaced. "It made me hate people for a long time. Being able to read minds should have made me more empathetic, but at that time it just made it easier for me to put people in categories and dismiss them. See them as inferior. I was angry at people for falling for…" he used his free hand to indicate to his face. "...this."

At the concerned look that must have been on Alia's face, he grinned in that lazy way of his. "I didn't stay that way for long. I befriended you, didn't I? My point is that I understand how you feel, even if it's not the same. I can't promise your anger will fade… but I will help you bear it, if you'll allow me."

"I know." Her voice should have been choked with tears, but came out steady. She showed her emotions by wrapping her arms around him tightly. "Thank you, Edward."

As they continued their walk back to the house, Alia determined that she could make peace with her appearance. It wouldn't happen right away, of course. But that was what eternity was for.

...

So, this was going to be something else and this chapter itself was supposed to be the lead in to that, but it got away from me and became its own chapter. What else was I expecting, lol.

Re the appearances of vampires in my version: I cannot reconcile myself with sparkling vampires. I just can't. It's so deeply stupid on so many levels, and not even in the way men criticise it as "lol gay". I am obsessed with folklore and mythology and this is just something that Meyer pulled out of her ass. Why the fuck would you make your vampires sparkle and then act like it's some terrible dramatic reveal. Like aren't they pretty enough as it is? You needed to make them MORE conspicuous? How the fuck is that going to make it easier for them to hunt? How does that biology even check out?! I mean it's not like mythological vampires or my awkward compromise (with them going spooky or outright dying under sunlight) make any scientific sense, but at least they're rooted in an aesthetic.

Also, I'm just going to say it. Meyer is extremely bad at vampires of colour in her text. Firstly, she doesn't have any until Breaking Dawn when she has to because she wrote herself into a situation where vampire Avengers is happening. (Laurent isn't black in the books but ambiguously described before any clown points that out) But with this notion that her (white) vampires are always described as very pale, paler than when they were human, and that being synonymous with beautiful, it kind of leaves it out in the open about what becoming a vampire does to anyone with melanin. If they turn whiter, than yikes. If they turn ashier, than also yikes. So she just doesn't bring it up. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

This kids, is why you THINK about your worldbuilding.

That's why I compromised by letting the vampires keep their normal skin tones in normal circumstances, but it turning ashen and creepy under sunlight to keep the aspect of sunlight being a deterrent besides 'oh no I'm even MORE pretty now :('.

I am so sorry for the salt. But ya'll signed up for it?


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